The Henry Schein arbitration battle is making its way
to the Supreme Court again. The Court recently
granted Henry Schein, Inc.'s certiorari petition to answer
the question of "Whether a provision in an arbitration
agreement that exempts certain claims from arbitration negates an
otherwise clear and unmistakable delegation of questions of
arbitrability to an arbitrator." Henry Schein,
Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 19-963 (2019). In
other words, if an arbitration agreement carves out certain claims
(like injunctive relief), does that create a loophole that allows
the district court to decide the arbitrability of those claims?
Round 1
As we
explained last year, the case started when Archer & White
Sales, Inc., a small business that distributes dental equipment,
sued a dental equipment manufacturer and Schein, a major
distributor of the equipment, for alleged antitrust violations. The
parties' agreement provided that disputes "arising under
or relating
