DESIGNATION OF SPECIFIC ARBITRATOR NOT INTEGRAL TO ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
In Virginia, defendant’s employment of plaintiff for house cleaning services became messy when plaintiff sued her employer for numerous torts, statutory violations and breach of contract. With foresight, defendant had required plaintiff to sign a one-page Arbitration Agreement requiring resolution of “any and all claims, disputes, or controversies arising out of” plaintiff’s employment exclusively by the National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) and sought to enforce that Agreement. The NAF was no longer available to administer the arbitration. Plaintiff argued that designation of the NAF as exclusive arbitrator was integral to the Agreement and the NAF’s unavailability rendered the Agreement unenforceable. The lower court agreed, but the matter was ultimately tidied up in defendant’s favor. On appeal, the supreme court found the NAF designation was not integral to the agreement because: (1) the Agreement included a severability provision, (2) the sole object of the Agreement was to require arbitration, (3) the parties were presumed to know the courts are directed by statute to appoint an arbitrator when an arbitration agreement fails to appoint one, and (4) nothing indicated that the parties considered the contingency that the NAF might not be available. Schuiling v. Harris, slip op (Va. Sept. 12, 2013).
This post written by Abigail Kortz.
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