Fourth DCA Case: Arbitration Compelled in Insurance Case.

Does your Palm Beach trust have an arbitration clause?   Do you know how to figure out if a case is subject to the arbitration clause? You may want to hear what the Fourth District Court of Appeals had to say in a May 6, 2015 case about determining arbitrability.

Arbitration

• An arbitration clause subjects Delray Beach parties who agree to it to arbitration in front of a neutral third party arbitrator.
• You do not have to go to arbitration unless you agreed to it.
• A rare exception exists in situations like the lemon law but no such exception exists in Palm Beach probate.
• Usually an arbitration clause is going to say something broad like all disputes arising out of an agreement are subject to arbitration.
• Who decides if a dispute arises out of the agreement?
• If you and your Boynton Beach business partner are in an agreement with an arbitration clause and he punches you in the office did it arise out of the agreement? Technically you two would not have been there but for the agreement, right?
• So, who determines the answer?
• Often times it is a judge but if your agreement says it follows the AAA (American Arbitration Association) then the arbitrator gets to decide.
• Does that make sense, should a person who gets paid to arbitrate decide whether or not he should arbitrate?
• What do you think?

Allied Professionals Insurance Company v. Fitzpatrick

• On May 6, 2015 the Court published its opinion in the case of Allied Professional Insurance Company, Inc. v. Fitzpatrick Case No. 4D13-3961.
• A chiropractor’s insurer appealed from the circuit court’s order denying a motion to compel arbitration of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the chiropractor pursuant to the insurance policy’s arbitration provision. The insurer argued that the court erred in denying the motions because among other reasons, the arbitration provision specifically delegated the issue of arbitrability to the arbitrator.
• The Appeals Court reversed on this logic but again is this just another case of the fox guarding the hen house?

Want to read the entire case click here.