We’ve previously blogged about the Supreme Court’s grant of review and argument in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter. Today, the Supreme Court issued its decision (pdf). In a narrowly-written ruling, the Court held that courts lack authority under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to vacate an arbitral award authorizing class arbitration when when (1) the arbitrator’s decision is based on an arguable effort to construe the arbitration agreement and (2) the parties had agreed that the arbitrator should decide whether the arbitration agreement allows class-wide arbitration. Under such limited circumstances, the Court held that the FAA’s limited standard
Continue Reading Supreme Court Issues Narrow Decision Declining to Overturn Arbitrator’s Ruling that Silent Arbitration Clause Permits Class Arbitration
Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter
Supreme Court Hears Argument In Class Arbitration Case, Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter
By Archis A. Parasharami on
Posted in Arbitration, U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court heard oral argument earlier today in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135, on whether the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) allows an arbitrator to interpret an arbitration agreement that does not affirmatively authorize class arbitration to permit use of that procedure.
For some background on Oxford, please see our prior blog post. My takeaway from the argument (transcript here) is that two competing principles under the FAA were in play. On the one hand, class arbitration is highly disfavored: The Supreme Court has previously explained—both in Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp.…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Hears Argument In Class Arbitration Case, Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter