The Supreme Court granted review on Friday in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant. Here is the question presented in the petition:
Whether
the Federal Arbitration Act permits courts, invoking
the “federal substantive law of arbitrability,” to
invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground that
they do not permit class arbitration of a federal law claim.
The respondents in the case stated the issue differently:
This Court has repeatedly recognized that federal statutory claims may be appropriately resolved through arbitration “so long as the prospective litigant effectively may vindicate [its] statutory cause of action in the arbitral forum.” Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79, 90 (2000). The question presented—on which there is no disagreement in the circuits—is whether an arbitration clause should be enforced when there is no dispute that a litigant has shown that it would be unable effectively to vindicate its federal statutory rights in the arbitral forum.
All of the certiorari stage briefs can be found here. The respondents' lead counsel is Gupta/Beck, the two principals of which are CL&P contributors.
