Supreme Court Will Now Hear Two Appeals Concerning Class Arbitration

On Friday, December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. John Ivan Sutter MD, No. 12-135 to address whether the parties to an arbitration agreement authorize class arbitration when the agreement provides that "any dispute" will be submitted to arbitration. The Third Circuit's decision in Oxford, which upheld an arbitrator's decision to proceed with class arbitration based on such an agreement, presents a potential conflict with the Supreme Court's decision in Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int'l Corp., 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010), which held that class arbitration cannot be imposed on parties that have not agreed to it. The Supreme Court has been extremely interested in the topic of class action waivers and arbitration agreements recently. The Court's decision to hear Oxford comes less than a month after it also granted certiorari in American Express Company vs. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133 ("AMEX") to address the