Justia Arbitration & Mediation Opinion Summaries

Berkeley Research Group, LLC and Southern Advanced Materials, LLC entered into a contract in 2019 for consulting services, which included an arbitration clause specifying that any disputes would be resolved via arbitration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After Southern allegedly failed to pay for Berkeley's services, the parties participated in arbitration administered by JAMS, with the arbitrator located in Philadelphia. The arbitration was conducted via Zoom, and the arbitrator ultimately awarded Berkeley $433,815.34. Berkeley then filed a petition in the Shelby County Chancery Court in Tennessee to confirm the arbitration award.The Shelby County Chancery Court denied Southern’s motion to dismiss, finding it had jurisdiction and confirming the award. Southern appealed, and the Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction under Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-5-323 but reversed on personal jurisdiction grounds, holding that Southern lacked sufficient contacts with Tennessee. The appellate court remanded with orders to dismiss.The Supreme Court of Tennessee granted permission to appeal and reviewed whether Tennessee courts have subject matter jurisdiction to confirm an arbitration award where the agreement specified arbitration in another state. The Court held that, under the Uniform Arbitration Act (UAA), Tennessee courts only have subject matter jurisdiction to confirm arbitration awards when the agreement provides for arbitration in Tennessee. Because the parties’ contract required arbitration to occur in Pennsylvania and did not allow for arbitration in Tennessee, the Shelby County Chancery Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Tennessee vacated the judgments of both lower courts and dismissed Berkeley’s petition to confirm the award. The disposition by the Supreme Court of Tennessee was to vacate and dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. View "Berkeley Research Group, LLC v. Southern Advanced Materials, LLC" on Justia Law

In a wrongful death action against an assisted-living facility, the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that the claims were subject to arbitration as per an agreement signed by the deceased's attorney-in-fact. The court clarified two key points. First, signing an optional arbitration agreement is not a "health care decision" under the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act. Second, the attorney-in-fact had the authority to sign the arbitration agreement on the deceased's behalf, considering the durable power of attorney gave her the power to act for him in "all claims and litigation matters". The court further ruled that the deceased's son, who brought the wrongful death action, was bound by the arbitration agreement because his claims were derivative of his father's. Consequently, the court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and remanded the case to the trial court.In the case, Granville Williams, Jr. died while residing at an assisted-living facility run by Smyrna Residential, LLC. His son James Williams filed a wrongful death action against the facility. The decedent's daughter, acting as his attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney, had signed an arbitration agreement with the facility at the time of his admission. The arbitration agreement was not a condition of admission to the facility. The key issues were whether the attorney-in-fact had the authority to sign the arbitration agreement and whether the son, who was not a party to the agreement, was nevertheless bound by it. View "Williams v. Smyrna Residential, LLC" on Justia Law

The Tennessee Uniform Trust Code is intended to give trustees broad authority to fulfill their duties as trustee and gives trustees the power to enter into predispute arbitration agreements, so long as doing so is not prohibited under the operative trust instrument.At issue in this interlocutory appeal was whether the signature of the trustee of a trust on an investment/brokerage account agreement that included a provision requiring the arbitration of disputes bound the beneficiary of the trust to the predispute arbitration provision. The Supreme Court held (1) under both the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code and the operative trust instrument, the trustee had authority to enter into the arbitration agreement contained within the account agreement; and (2) applying the principle that a third party who seeks the benefit of a contract must also bear its burdens, the trust beneficiary in this case may be bound to arbitrate claims against the investment broker that sought to enforce the account agreement. The court vacated the trial court order compelling arbitration of all claims and remanded the case to the trial court for a determination as to which, if any, of the claims asserted by the trust beneficiary seek to enforce the account agreement. View "Harvey ex rel. Gladden v. Cumberland Trust & Investment Co." on Justia Law

A law firm filed suit against two former employees. Both defendants filed motions to compel arbitration. The trial court stayed discovery except as to the issue of whether the cases were subject to arbitration. The court subsequently ordered the parties to engage in mediation and to disclose the "necessary documents to conduct a meaningful attempt at resolution" despite the prior order limiting discovery. The defendants filed a motion to vacate the order requiring arbitration, which the trial court and court of appeals denied. The Supreme Court vacated the order of the trial court and remanded for a determination on the motions to compel arbitration, holding that the trial court (1) erred in ordering discovery without limiting the scope of discovery to the issue of arbitrability in contravention of the Tennessee Uniform Arbitration Act; and (2) erred in referring the parties to mediation in an effort to resolve all issues. View "Glassman, Edwards, Wyatt, Tuttle & Cox, P.C. v. Wade" on Justia Law

An investor pursued a claim against an investment company over losses he incurred due to the failure of some of the company's bond funds. A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel ruled in the investor's favor. The investment company subsequently petitioned the chancery court to vacate the award based on the alleged bias of two members of the arbitration panel. The trial court vacated the award and remanded for a second arbitration before a new panel. The court of appeals dismissed the investor's appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the trial court's order did not expressly confirm or deny the arbitration award. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court's order was, in fact, an appealable order "denying confirmation" of an arbitration award under Tenn. Code Ann. 29-5-319(a)(3). Remanded. View "Morgan Keegan & Co. v. Smythe" on Justia Law