IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-50509

JEFFREY H. REED,

Plaintiff–Appellee

v.

FLORIDA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, INCORPORATED;

CORINTHIAN COLLEGES, INCORPORATED,

Defendants–Appellants

Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the Western District of Texas

Before KING, BENAVIDES, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

KING, Circuit Judge:

Defendants–Appellants Florida Metropolitan University and Corinthian

Colleges appeal the district court’s confirmation of an arbitral award that

requires them to submit to class arbitration. They contend that the district

court, not the arbitrator, should have decided whether the parties’ agreement

provided for class arbitration, and that the district court should have vacated the

arbitrator’s class arbitration award. Because the parties agreed that the

arbitrator should decide the class arbitration issue, we conclude that the district

court correctly referred that issue to the arbitrator. The district court erred,

however, in confirming the award because the arbitrator exceeded his powers. 

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

F I L E D

May 18, 2012

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

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We therefore REVERSE the district court’s order and REMAND for further

proceedings. 

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2008, Plaintiff–Appellee Jeffrey Reed (“Reed”) enrolled in Everest

University Online’s (“Everest”) distance learning program, and subsequently 1

obtained a bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies. Reed planned to attend law

school upon graduation, and enrolled in Everest after receiving assurances from

school officials that the college’s degree would be accepted by educational

institutions and employers. Reed soon discovered, however, that law schools

would not recognize his bachelor’s degree, nor would the local police department,

where he sought employment. Reed accrued more than $51,000 in student loan

debt while attending Everest.

Dissatisfied with his experience at Everest, Reed filed a putative class

action in Texas state court, alleging that Defendants–Appellants Corinthian

Colleges and Florida Metropolitan University (together, the “School”) had

violated certain provisions of the Texas Education Code by soliciting students in

Texas without the appropriate certifications. Reed sought approximately 2

$51,000 in damages, plus attorney’s fees. Reed defined the putative class as

“[a]ny person who contracted to receive distance education from Everest

University Online while residing in Texas.”

Everest is a brand of Defendant–Appellant Corinthian Colleges, Inc. 1

Defendant–Appellant Florida Metropolitan University, Inc. is a subsidiary of Corinthian

Colleges.

Specifically, Reed alleged violations of Texas Education Code § 132.051(a), which 2

requires that schools not advertise or solicit in Texas until they receive the appropriate

certificate of approval from the Texas Workforce Commission, and Texas Education Code §

132.059(a), which requires employees of career schools or colleges to register with the

Commission.

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The School removed the action to the district court, and then moved to

compel individual arbitration pursuant to the arbitration provision of the

Enrollment Agreement. The arbitration provision provides, in relevant part:

The student agrees that any dispute arising from my enrollment at

Everest University, no matter how described, pleaded or styled,

shall be resolved by binding arbitration under the Federal

Arbitration Act conducted by the American Arbitration Association

(“AAA”) under its Commercial Rules. The award rendered by the

arbitrator may be enforced in any court having jurisdiction.

Terms of Arbitration

1. Both student and Everest University irrevocably agree that any

dispute between them shall be submitted to Arbitration.

2. Neither the student nor Everest University shall file or maintain

any lawsuit in any court against the other, and agree that any suit

filed in violation of this Agreement shall be dismissed by the court

in favor of an arbitration conducted pursuant to this Agreement.

. . .

4. The arbitrator’s decision shall be set forth in writing and shall set

forth the essential findings and conclusions upon which the decision

is based.

5. Any remedy available from a court under the law shall be

available in the arbitration.

. . . 

Acknowledgment of Waiver of Jury Trial and Availability of

AAA Rules

By my signature on the reverse, I acknowledge that I understand

that both I and Everest University are irrevocably waiving rights to

a trial by jury, and are selecting instead to submit any and all

claims to the decision of an arbitrator instead of a court. I

understand that the award of the arbitrator will be binding, and not

merely advisory.

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The district court granted the School’s motion to compel arbitration and

stayed the action pending arbitration. It found that a valid arbitration

agreement existed, that the parties’ dispute was within the scope of the

agreement, and that the arbitration clause was not unconscionable. The district

court declined, however, to address whether the parties’ agreement provided for

class arbitration, concluding that the issue is “more appropriately decided by the

arbitrator.”

The case then proceeded before an American Arbitration Association

(“AAA”) arbitrator. Reed moved for a Clause Construction Award under the

AAA Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitration, seeking class arbitration. The

arbitrator determined that the parties implicitly agreed to class arbitration and

entered an award to that effect. Reed then sought to confirm the arbitration

award in the district court, and the School moved to vacate the award on the

basis that the arbitrator exceeded his powers. The School argued that the award

conflicted with the recent Supreme Court decisions in Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v.

AnimalFeeds International Corp., 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010), and AT&T Mobility

LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011). The district court confirmed the

award, finding it to be consistent with recent precedent and a “reasonable

interpretation of the contract in light of the [Federal Arbitration Act] and Texas

law.” The School appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

This appeal requires us to address two issues. Our first task is to

determine whether the district court erred when it allowed the arbitrator to

decide whether the parties agreed to class arbitration. Second, we must decide

whether the district court properly denied the School’s motion to vacate the

arbitrator’s award. 

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1. The District Court Properly Referred the Class Arbitration Issue to the

Arbitrator

The School contends that the district court erred when it allowed the

arbitrator to determine whether the parties’ arbitration agreement allowed for

class arbitration, instead of deciding the issue itself. We disagree.

The Supreme Court has not definitively decided this issue. In Green Tree

Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003), four Justices concluded that the

class arbitration issue did not constitute a “gateway” or arbitrability matter that

is generally decided by a court, but was instead a procedural matter for the

arbitrator. Id. at 452. In Stolt-Nielsen, the Court confirmed that Green Tree “did

not yield a majority decision” on this issue. 130 S. Ct. at 1772. The Stolt-Nielsen

Court declined to revisit the question because the parties in that case had agreed

to submit the question to the arbitrator rather than the court. Id. At least at

the Supreme Court level, therefore, the question remains open.3

According to the School, the district court should have resolved the class

arbitration issue because the parties expressly submitted that issue to the court

for resolution. We disagree. Reed’s opposition to the School’s motion to compel

arbitration was restricted largely to issues of the applicability and

unconscionability of the arbitration clause. Reed, in fact, requested that the

court “find that no valid, enforceable arbitration agreement exists, and that

Plaintiff may proceed with this case before [the district court].” Reed’s

discussion of class arbitration came only when he argued that requiring

 In Pedcor Management Co., Inc. Welfare Benefit Plan v. Nations Personnel of Texas,

3

Inc., 343 F.3d 355 (5th Cir. 2003), a panel of this court held that the class arbitration decision

should be made by an arbitrator rather than a court. The Pedcor panel premised its decision

upon Green Tree, which it interpreted to hold that class arbitration determinations “should

be for the arbitrator, not the courts, to decide.” Id. at 359. The Supreme Court in Stolt-Nielsen,

however, emphasized that, on this point, Green Tree was only a plurality decision. 130 S. Ct.

at 1772. Because the parties here consented to the Supplementary Rules, and therefore agreed

to submit the class arbitration issue to the arbitrator, we need not and do not revisit this

issue.

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individual arbitration would render the arbitration agreement unconscionable. 

Although Reed argued that the case should proceed as a class even if it were

referred to arbitration, he did so only in response to the School’s motion to

compel arbitration. Nor did the district court understand Reed to make a class

arbitration argument. It summarized, “Reed . . . argues that his claims are not

within the scope of the arbitration agreement, that Defendants are not parties

to the arbitration agreement, that Texas law makes the arbitration agreement

unenforceable, and that the arbitration agreement is illusory and

unconscionable, and thus unenforceable.” Indeed, as Reed sought to avoid

arbitration altogether and to proceed as a class action, we cannot conclude that

he intended to submit the class arbitration issue to the district court.

We now turn to the arbitration rules to which the parties agreed. As noted

above, the parties explicitly agreed to adopt the AAA’s Commercial Rules when

they entered into their agreement in 2008. These rules do not contain class

arbitration procedures; rather, such procedures are provided in the separate

Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitration, which were enacted in October 2003

after the Supreme Court’s Green Tree decision. See Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at

1765 (discussing development of Supplementary Rules). Shortly before it issued

the Supplementary Rules, the AAA explained, “[t]he Association’s various rules

are silent on the issue of class arbitration and the Association has taken no

position on the availability of class arbitrations. To accommodate these types of

cases, the Association has commenced drafting supplementary rules that will

govern the Association’s administration of class arbitrations.” AAA Policy

Statement, available at http://www.adr.org/index2.1.jsp?JSPssid=15753&

JSPaid=43425. By their terms, these Supplementary Rules apply “to any dispute

arising out of an agreement that provides for arbitration pursuant to any of the

rules of the American Arbitration Association (‘AAA’) where a party submits a

dispute to arbitration on behalf of or against a class or purported class, and shall

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supplement any other applicable AAA rules.” Suppl. R. 1(a). They also apply

“whenever a court refers a matter pleaded as a class action to the AAA for

administration.” Id.

Commentators and AAA arbitral tribunals have consistently concluded

that consent to any of the AAA’s substantive rules also constitutes consent to the

Supplementary Rules. A major arbitration treatise concludes that “[t]hese AAA 4

Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitrations . . . supplement any other applicable

AAA rules. For example, if a dispute that otherwise would be arbitrated under

the Commercial Arbitration Rules involves a purported class, then the

proceeding is governed by both the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules and the

AAA Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitrations.” Thomas H. Oehmke, 1

COMMERCIALARBITRATION § 16:16 (Apr. 2012). The few courts to have considered

this issue have agreed. See Bergman v. Spruce Peak Realty, LLC, No. 2:11-CV127, 2011 WL 5523329, at * (D. Vt. Nov. 14, 2011) (relying upon Supplementary

Rules when referring class arbitration issue to the arbitrator, where parties

agreed to “the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the AAA”); S. Commc’ns Servs.,

Inc. v. Thomas, __ F. Supp. 2d __, 2011 WL 5386428, at *10 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 3,

2011) (holding that AAA Wireless Industry Arbitration Rules “incorporate the

AAA Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitrations, which gave the arbitrator the

power to decide whether the Arbitration Clause implicitly authorized class

One arbitral tribunal confronted with this issue concluded that the Supplementary

4

Rules applied to an arbitration commenced in 2004, even though the parties’ arbitration

agreement—which was governed by “the Rules of the American ArbitrationAssociation”—was

signed approximately five years before the Supplementary Rules were enacted. See Presidents

and Fellows of Harvard College v. JSC Surgutneftegaz, 770 PLI/Lit. 127, 135 n.5 (2008). The

panel, relying upon Supplementary Rule 1, explained, “[s]ince the AAA rules apply

here—something clear on the face of the [parties’] Agreement—the Supplementary Rules also

apply.” Id. One member of the panel dissented from this conclusion, reasoning that the

Supplementary Rules could not be incorporated into the parties’ arbitration clause because the

Supplementary Rules did not exist at the time the parties entered into their agreement. Id.

at 170 (Zykin, dissenting).

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proceedings”); Yahoo! Inc. v. Iversen, __ F. Supp. 2d __, 2011 WL 4802840, at *4

(N.D. Cal. Oct. 11, 2011) (holding that parties’ agreement to AAA National Rules

for the Resolution of Employment Disputes also constituted agreement to the

Supplementary Rules). Consistent with these authorities, we conclude that the

parties’ agreement to the AAA’s Commercial Rules also constitutes consent to

the Supplementary Rules.5

With this conclusion, we now turn to the substance of the Supplementary

Rules. Under Supplementary Rule 3, “the arbitrator shall determine as a

threshold matter . . . whether the applicable arbitration clause permits the

arbitration to proceed on behalf of or against a class . . . .” AAA Suppl. R. 3

(emphasis added). The parties’ consent to the Supplementary Rules, therefore,

constitutes a clear agreement to allow the arbitrator to decide whether the

party’s agreement provides for class arbitration. As such, we need not determine

whether, in the absence of such an agreement, the threshold matter of bilateral

or class arbitration should be decided by a court or an arbitrator.6

In light of the foregoing, we conclude that the district court correctly

referred the class arbitration issue to the arbitrator. We now must decide

whether the district court properly confirmed the arbitrator’s class arbitration

award.

In so holding, we note that the parties have never specifically disputed the 5

applicability of the Supplementary Rules. The School, in its motion to vacate the clause

construction award, in fact represented to the district court that it had agreed to those Rules.

See R. 341 (“The AAA rules to which these parties agreed provide that a clause construction

award would be subject to a motion to vacate . . . .”) (citing Supplementary Rule 3) (emphasis

added). 

The parties’ adoption of the AAA Commercial Rules and the Supplementary Rules 6

cannot, however, be considered in deciding whether they agreed to arbitrate as a class. See

AAA Suppl. R. 3 (“In construing the applicable arbitration clause, the arbitrator shall not

consider the existence of these Supplementary Rules, or any other AAA rules, to be a factor

either in favor of or against permitting the arbitration to proceed on a class basis.”).

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2. The District Court Erred in Confirming the Arbitration Award

After a hearing, the arbitrator issued an award in which he determined

that the parties’ arbitration provision allowed for class arbitration. The district

court granted Reed’s motion to confirm the award and denied the School’s crossmotion to vacate the award. The School contends that the arbitration award is

inconsistent with Stolt-Nielsen, and that the arbitrator exceeded his authority

by ordering the parties into class arbitration without a sufficient contractual

basis. Reed responds that the award is compatible with Stolt-Nielsen, and that

the exceedingly deferential standard of review applicable to arbitration awards

precludes us from vacating the award. For the reasons discussed below, we

agree with the School and conclude that the district court erred in failing to

vacate the award pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C.

§ 10(a)(4). 

A. Standard of Review

Our review of the district court’s confirmation of an arbitral award is de

novo, “using the same standard as the district court.” DK Joint Venture 1 v.

Weyand, 649 F.3d 310, 314 (5th Cir. 2011). Because we have concluded that the

district court properly referred the class arbitration issue to the arbitrator, our

review of the arbitration award itself is governed by the FAA. Under the FAA, 7

a party to an arbitration may apply to a court for an order confirming an

arbitration award, and the court “must grant such an order unless the award is

vacated, modified, or corrected . . . .” 9 U.S.C. § 9. Section 10 of the FAA lists

The School contends that de novo review of the award is proper because the class

7

arbitration issue is one of arbitrability that should have been considered by the district court.

Because we have concluded that the parties agreed to submit the issue to the arbitrator, we

need not consider whether class arbitration constitutes an arbitrability issue. Nor would the

arbitrability determination necessarily be conclusive, as parties may agree to submit

arbitrability questions to an arbitrator. See Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, 130 S. Ct.

2772, 2777 (2010) (“We have recognized that parties can agree to arbitrate ‘gateway’ questions

of ‘arbitrability’ . . . .”) (citing Howsam v. Dean Witters Reynolds, Inc., 537 U.S. 79, 83-85

(2002)).

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four grounds upon which to vacate an award, the last of which allows for

vacateur “where the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly

executed them that a mutual, final, and definite award upon the subject matter

submitted was not made.” 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4). 

Of the various grounds for vacating an arbitral award provided in Section

10, this fourth ground has received the most attention. In Wilko v. Swan, 346

U.S. 427 (1953), overruled on other grounds by Rodriguez de Quijas v.

Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477 (1989), the Supreme Court

explained that the “[p]ower to vacate an award is limited,” but an arbitrator’s

failure to decide a case in accordance with the applicable law may constitute

grounds for vacating the award if that failure is “made clearly to appear.” Id. at

436. On several occasions, the Court has considered whether a lower court

properly set aside an arbitrator’s interpretation of a collective bargaining

agreement or other contract. The Court has consistently made clear that a court

may not decline to enforce an award simply because it disagrees with the

arbitrator’s legal reasoning. See, e.g., Major League Baseball Players Ass’n v.

Garvey, 532 U.S. 504, 509 (2001); E. Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine

Workers of Am., 531 U.S. 57, 62 (2000). Nevertheless, an arbitrator’s award is

not entirely beyond reproach:

[A]n arbitrator is confined to interpretation and application of the

collective bargaining agreement; he does not sit to dispense his own

brand of industrial justice. He may of course look for guidance from

many sources, yet his award is legitimate only as long as it draws its

essence from the collective bargaining agreement. When the

arbitrator’s words manifest an infidelity to this obligation, courts

have no choice but to refuse enforcement of the award.

United Steelworkers of Am. v. Enter. Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597

(1960) (emphasis added). In United Steelworkers, the Court explained that “[i]t 8

 We have explained that an arbitrator’s award “draws its essence” from the contract

8

where the award “ha[s] a basis that is at least rationally inferable, if not obviously drawn,

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is the arbitrator’s construction [of the contract] which was bargained for; and so

far as the arbitrator’s decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts

have no business overruling him because their interpretation of the contract is

different from his.” Id. at 599. This principle was echoed in United

Paperworkers International Union v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29 (1987), where the

Supreme Court again discussed the limited role of a court in reviewing an

arbitrator’s interpretation of a contract. The Court explained that “[t]he

arbitrator may not ignore the plain language of the contract; but the parties

having authorized the arbitrator to give meaning to the language of the

agreement, a court should not reject an award on the ground that the arbitrator

misread the contract.” Id. at 38. Thus, “as long as the arbitrator is even

arguably construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his

authority, that a court is convinced he committed serious error does not suffice

to overturn his decision.” Id. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in StoltNielsen, 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2011), which we discuss further below, reaffirmed this

exceptionally deferential standard of review. See id. at 1767-68. 

Consistent with this precedent, we have recognized that “judicial review

of an arbitration award is extraordinarily narrow” and “exceedingly deferential.” 

Rain CII Carbon, LLC v. ConocoPhillips Co., __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 753263, at *2

(5th Cir. Mar. 9, 2012) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). We will

therefore not set aside an award for “a mere mistake of fact or law.” Id. (citation

and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Apache Bohai Corp. LDC v.

Texaco China BV, 480 F.3d 397, 401 (5th Cir. 2007). 

from the letter or purpose of the . . . agreement. . . . [T]he award must, in some logical way,

be derived from the wording or purpose of the contract.” Anderman/Smith Operating Co. v.

Tenn. Gas Pipeline Co., 918 F.2d 1215, 1218 (5th Cir. 1990) (citations and internal quotation

marks omitted) (alteration in original); see also Executone Info. Sys., Inc. v. Davis, 26 F.3d

1314, 1320 (5th Cir. 1994).

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B. The Arbitrator Exceeded his Powers

With this understanding of our limited review, we now consider whether

the arbitrator in this case exceeded his powers when he concluded that the

parties’ agreement permitted class arbitration. Because we find that the

arbitrator forced the parties into class arbitration without a contractual basis for

doing so, we conclude that the arbitrator exceeded his powers and that the

award must be vacated.

i. Stolt-Nielsen

This appeal comes before us in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent

decision in Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010). In that case, Stolt-Nielsen and

AnimalFeeds had entered into an agreement for the shipment of goods. The

parties’ agreement contained an arbitration provision that provided in part:

“[a]ny dispute arising from the making, performance or termination of this

Charter Party shall be settled in New York . . . . Such arbitration shall be

conducted in conformity with the provisions and procedure of the United States

Arbitration Act [i.e., the FAA], and a judgment of the Court shall be entered

upon any award made by said arbitrator.” Id. at 1765. After a Department of

Justice criminal investigation revealed that Stolt-Nielsen was engaged in an

illegal price-fixing conspiracy, AnimalFeeds brought a putative class action in

federal court. Id. AnimalFeeds subsequently served Stolt-Nielsen with a

demand for class arbitration, and the parties agreed to submit the class

arbitration question to a panel of three arbitrators. Id. The parties also

stipulated that their agreement was “silent” with respect to class arbitration,

meaning that they had reached “no agreement” on the issue. Id. at 1766. The

arbitrators concluded that the parties’ agreement provided for class arbitration. 

On Stolt-Nielsen’s motion, the district court vacated the award, but the Second

Circuit reversed. Id.

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On appeal,theSupreme Court held that the district court properly vacated

the award. The Court first reemphasized that a party seeking vacateur must

“clear a high hurdle,” as it is “not enough for petitioners to show that the panel

committed an error—or even a serious error.” Id. at 1767. As the Court

explained, “[i]t is only where [an] arbitrator strays from interpretation and

application of the agreement and effectively dispense[s] his own brand of

industrial justice that his decision may be unenforceable.” Id. (citations and

internal quotation marks omitted). Where that happens, an arbitration award

may be vacated on the basis that the arbitrator exceeded his powers, “for the

task of an arbitrator is to interpret and enforce a contract, not to make public

policy.” Id.

The Court explained that, because the parties stipulated that their

agreement was silent on class arbitration, the arbitrators’ “proper task was to

identify the rule of law that governs,” presumably “the FAA itself or to one of the

two bodies of law that the parties claimed were governing, i.e., either federal

maritime law or New York law.” Id. at 1768. However, instead of “inquiring

whether the FAA, maritime law, or New York law contains a ‘default rule’ under

which an arbitration clause is construed as allowing class arbitration in the

absence of express consent, the panel proceeded as if it had the authority of a

common-law court to develop what it viewed as the best rule to be applied in

such a situation.” Id. at 1768-69. The arbitrators perceived a consensus

favoring class arbitration, and considered only whether there was a “good reason

not to follow that consensus.” Id. at 1769. Finding no such reason, the 9

arbitration panel determined that the parties’ agreement permitted class

In this respect, the Court faulted the arbitrators for discounting expert evidence that 9

bilateral rather than class arbitration was customary in maritime agreements. The Court also

explained that, “[u]nder both New York law and general maritime law, evidence of ‘custom and

usage’ is relevant to determining the parties’ intent when an express agreement is

ambiguous.” Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1769 n.6.

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arbitration. The Court concluded that “the panel simply imposed its own

conception of sound policy,” and thereby exceeded its powers. Id. Finding that

there was only one possible outcome—bilateral arbitration—the Court vacated

the award and declined to direct a rehearing by the arbitrators. Id. at 1770. 

The Court then addressed the “standard to be applied by a decision maker

in determining whether a contract may permissibly be interpreted to allow class

arbitration,” a question left undecided by Green Tree. Id. at 1772. The Court

based its analysis on the FAA’s basic precept that arbitration “is a matter of

consent, not coercion.” Id. at 1773. In this respect, parties are “generally free

to structure their arbitration agreements as they see fit,” and to “specify with

whom they choose to arbitrate their disputes.” Id. at 1774 (emphasis in original)

(citations and internal quotation marks omitted). As such, the Court held that

“a party may not be compelled under the FAA to submit to class arbitration

unless there is a contractual basis for concluding that the party agreed to do so.” 

Id. at 1775 (emphasis in original). The arbitrators had erred by “impos[ing]

class arbitration even though the parties concurred that they had reached ‘no

agreement’ on that issue.” Id. In fact, the panel had faulted the parties for

failing to preclude class arbitration, and “regarded the agreement’s silence on

the question of class arbitration as dispositive.” Id. This conclusion, the Court

found, was “fundamentally at war with the foundational FAA principle that

arbitration is a matter of consent.” Id. 

In so deciding, the Court explained that arbitrators may properly presume

authorization to impose certain procedural requirements, but “[a]n implicit

agreement to authorize class-action arbitration . . . is not a term that the

arbitrator may infer solely from the fact of the parties’ agreement to arbitrate.” 

Id. This is so, the Court explained, “because class-action arbitration changes the

nature of the arbitration to such a degree that it cannot be presumed the parties

consented to it by simply agreeing to submit their disputes to an arbitrator.” Id. 

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The Courtthen described several fundamental differences between bilateral and

class arbitration. For example, in class arbitration, the arbitrator “no longer

resolves a single dispute between the parties to a single agreement, but instead

resolves many disputes between hundreds or perhaps even thousands of

parties,” and the presumption of privacy and confidentiality that applies in many

bilateral arbitrations would not apply in class arbitrations. Id. at 1776. 

Further, “[t]he arbitrator’s award no longer purports to bind just the parties to

a single arbitration agreement, but adjudicates the rights of absent parties as

well.” Id. Additionally, although the stakes are similar to those in class action

litigation, “the scope of judicial review is much more limited.” Id. The Court

explained that these differences and disadvantages “give reason to doubt the

parties’ mutual consent to resolve disputes through class-wide arbitration.” Id.

at 1775-76. The Court therefore concluded that “the differences between

bilateral and class-action arbitration are too great for arbitrators to presume,

consistent with their limited powers under the FAA, that the parties’ mere

silence on the issue of class-action arbitration constitutes consent to resolve their

disputes in class proceedings.” Id. at 1776. In light of these “crucial differences,”

the majority saw the question as “being whether the parties agreed to authorize

class arbitration.” Id. (emphasis in original). Because the parties had agreed

that their contract was silent on the subject, they could not be “compelled to

submit their dispute to class arbitration.” Id. The Court, however, declined to

“decide what contractual basis may support a finding that the parties agreed to

authorize class-action arbitration,” in light of the parties’ stipulation of silence. 

Id. at 1776 n.10. 

Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justices Stevens and Breyer, dissented. The

dissent criticized the majority for not affording the arbitration award the proper

deference. Because the parties had agreed to submit the class arbitration issue

to the arbitrators, the arbitrators did not exceed their authority in resolving the

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dispute. Id. at 1780 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). Rather, they properly addressed

the “procedural mode available for presentation of AnimalFeeds’ antitrust

claims.” Id. at 1781. 

The Supreme Court reiterated many of the same concerns regarding class

arbitration a year later in Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011), wherein it held

that a state law prohibiting class action waivers in arbitration agreements was

preempted by the FAA. Id. at 1753. In so holding, the Concepcion Court

explained that class arbitration “includes absent parties, necessitating

additional and different procedures and involving higher stakes. Confidentiality

becomes more difficult. And while it is theoretically possible to select an

arbitrator with some expertise relevant to the class-certification question,

arbitrators are not generally knowledgeable in the often-dominant procedural

aspects of certification . . . .” Id. at 1750. The Court also emphasized that

arbitral awards are subject to limited appellate review, and raised concerns that

defendants might feel increased pressure to settle questionable claims when

confronted with class arbitration. Id. at 1752. Given these disadvantages, the

Court found “it hard to believe that defendants” would agree to class arbitration

and thereby “bet the company with no effective means of review.” Id. As such,

Concepcion held that “class arbitration, to the extent it is manufactured by [state

law] rather than consensual, is inconsistent with the FAA.” Id. at 1751-52. 

Therefore, in light of the significant disadvantages of class arbitration as

discussed in both Stolt-Nielsen and Concepcion, an arbitrator (or a court) should

not conclude that parties—and defendants in particular—consented to such a

proceeding absent a contractual basis for doing so. Although the agreement to

submit to class arbitration may be implicit, it should not be lightly inferred.10

This understanding is consistent with Texas law, which provides: “[F]or a court to 10

read additional provisions into [a] contract, the implication must clearly arise from the

language used, or be indispensable to effectuate the intent of the parties. It must appear that

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See 130 S. Ct. at 1775; id. at 1782 (Ginsburg, J. dissenting) (“The breadth of the

arbitration clause, and the absence of any provision waiving or banning class

proceedings, will not [support class arbitration].”) (footnote omitted); id. at 1783

(“[T]he Court does not insist on express consent to class arbitration.”); see also

Christopher R. Drahozal & Peter B. Rutledge, Contract and Procedure, 94 MARQ.

L. REV. 1103, 1151 (2011) (“[In Stolt-Nielsen], [t]he Supreme Court held that the

default rule is that class arbitration is not permitted, explaining that class

arbitration is sufficiently different from individual arbitration that the parties

must agree as a contractual matter to override that default rule.”); Terry F.

Moritz & Brandon J. Fitch, The Future of Consumer Arbitration in Light of StoltNielsen, 23 LOY. CONSUMER L. REV. 265, 270 (2010) (“Stolt-Nielsen seems to

signal the end of inferred class arbitration . . . . A court cannot compel class

arbitration without a contractual basis for concluding that the parties agreed to

it; and presumably no potential defendant would agree to it.”). In the absence

of a contractual agreement, an arbitrator should inquire into “whether the FAA,

[or state law] contains a ‘default rule’ under which an arbitration clause is

construed as allowing class arbitration,” instead of simply “develop[ing] what

[he] view[s] as the best rule to be applied in such a situation.” Stolt-Nielsen, 130

S. Ct. at 1768-69. Without a contractual or other legal basis for class arbitration,

an arbitrator has no authority to order the parties to submit to class arbitration. 

See Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. at 1750 (“In [Stolt-Nielsen] we held that an

arbitration panel exceeded its powers under § 10(a)(4) of the FAA by imposing

class procedures based on policy judgments rather than the arbitration

agreement itself or some background principle of contract law that would affect

its interpretation.”); see also United Steelworkers of Am. v. Enter. Wheel and Car

the implication was so clearly contemplated by the parties that they deem it unnecessary to

express it.” Fuller v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 872 F.2d 655, 658 (5th Cir. 1989); see Danciger

Oil & Ref. Co. of Tex. v. Powell, 154 S.W.2d 632, 635 (Tex. 1941). 

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Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597 (1960) (stating that an arbitrator’s award is “legitimate

only as long as it draws its essence” from the contract). 

With this understanding of Stolt-Nielsen, we now turn to whether the

arbitrator in this case exceeded his powers by ordering the parties to submit to

class arbitration.

ii. Arbitrator’s Award

In his award, the arbitrator began by acknowledging that the class

arbitration issue presented a “close case,” and was primarily governed by StoltNielsen. After determining that the FAA and Texas law applied, he then 11

focused on two provisions of the parties’ arbitration agreement: (1) the “any

dispute” provision, which provides, “[t]he student agrees that any dispute arising

from my enrollment at Everest University, no matter how described, pleaded or

styled, shall be resolved by binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration

Act conducted by the American Arbitration Association . . . under its Commercial

Rules;” and (2) the “any remedy” provision, which provides, “[a]ny remedy

available from a court under the law shall be available in the arbitration.” The

arbitrator concluded that, “[w]hen these two provision[s] are read in the context

of the entire Agreement, the [School] implicitly agreed to class arbitration,” and

there was a sufficient “‘contractual basis’ for class arbitration.” The arbitrator

based his conclusion in part upon Section 132.121(a) of the Texas Education

Code, which provides for class action litigation to address certain violations of

the Education Code. He reasoned that, if the arbitration clause had not been

included in the contract, then the School “would have clearly been required to

submit to a class action lawsuit.” While he acknowledged that this provision of

Texas law was not controlling, he explained that it is “not inconsistent with the

FAA,” and it “provides guidance in interpreting the contract language agreed to

 The parties agreed that Texas law governed. 11

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by the Parties.” The arbitrator also relied upon the School’s failure to expressly

ban class arbitration, reasoning that the School “drafted the Agreement in

question,” and they “could have clearly set forth that class arbitration was

barred if they so chose,” but they “chose not to do so.”

Upon our deferential review of the award, we conclude that the arbitrator

exceeded his authority by ordering the parties into class arbitration without a

sufficient basis for concluding that the parties agreed to resolve their dispute in

this manner. Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1775. Although the parties here did

not stipulate that their agreement was silent on class arbitration, unlike the

parties in Stolt-Nielsen, Reed admitted before the arbitrator that “the parties

clearly did not discuss whether class arbitration was authorized,” and that “[t]he

arbitration agreement at issue here fails to address class arbitration.” In light

of these concessions, the arbitrator should have consulted state or federal law to

determine if a certain “default” class arbitration rule existed in the absence of

an agreement. Id. at 1770. Instead, the arbitrator focused upon the terms of 12

the parties’ contract. None of the provisions the arbitrator identified, however,

even remotely relates to or authorizes class arbitration. 

First, the arbitrator improperly relied upon the “any dispute” clause of the

arbitration agreement. The “any dispute” clause is a standard provision that

may be found, in one form or another, in many arbitration agreements. See

Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1765 (arbitration agreement provided: “[a]ny dispute

arising from the making, performance or termination of this Charter Party shall

be settled [by arbitration]”); Jock v. Sterling Jewelers Inc., 646 F.3d 113, 116 (2d

Cir. 2011) (arbitration agreement provided: “I hereby utilize the Sterling

The parties do not provide any such “default rule” under federal or Texas law, nor are 12

we aware of such a rule. The Texas General Arbitration Act makes no reference to class

arbitration. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 171.001 et seq. The FAA also has no such

default rule.

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RESOLVE [arbitration] program to pursue any dispute, claim, or controversy

. . . against Sterling”); Complaint of Hornbeck Offshore (1984) Corp., 981 F.2d

752, 755 (5th Cir. 1993) (explaining that “any dispute” clauses are very broad,

and collecting cases involving such clauses); see also American Arbitration

Association, Drafting Dispute Resolution Clauses: A Practical Guide 7 (Sept. 1,

2007) (suggesting following clause: “[a]ny controversy or claim arising out of or

relating to this contract . . . shall be settled by arbitration”); JAMS ADR Clauses,

available at www.jamsadr.com/clauses/#Standard (suggesting the following

clause: “[a]ny dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or related to this

Agreement . . . shall be determined by arbitration . . . .”). On its face, the “any

dispute” clause merely reflects an agreement between the parties to arbitrate

their disputes. Stolt-Nielsen makes clear, however, that an “implicit agreement

to authorize class-arbitration . . . is not a term that the arbitrator may infer

solely from the fact of the parties’ agreement to arbitrate.” 130 S. Ct. at 1775

(emphasis added). This clause is therefore not a valid contractual basis upon

which to conclude that the parties agreed to submit to class arbitration. See,

e.g., Christopher R. Drahozal & Peter B. Rutledge, Contract and Procedure, 94

MARQ. L. REV. 1103, 1155 (2011) (arguing that a class arbitration award based

upon an “any dispute” clause would be “insufficient” under Stolt-Nielsen, and

stating that “[a] general arbitration clause, according to the Stolt-Nielsen Court,

does not authorize class arbitration because class arbitration differs too much

from individual arbitration”).

Second, the arbitrator’s reliance upon the “any remedy” clause was also

improper. The “any remedy” clause, which merely allows the arbitrator to grant

any “remedy available from a court under the law,” says nothing whatsoever

about class arbitration, and does not constitute an “agree[ment] to authorize

class arbitration.” Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1776 (emphasis omitted). A

“remedy” is “anything a court can do for a litigant who has been wronged or is

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about to be wronged.” BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 1320 (8th ed. 2004); see also

Knapp, Stout & Co. v. McCaffrey, 177 U.S. 638, 644 (1900) (“A remedy is defined

. . . as the means employed to enforce a right, or redress an injury.”) (internal

quotation marks omitted). Remedies may include, for example, equitable relief

such as an injunction or restitution, or legal relief such as monetary damages. 

See Mertens v. Hewitt Assocs., 508 U.S. 248, 255 (1993). In contrast, we have

characterized a class action as “a procedural device.” Blaz v. Belfer, 368 F.3d

501, 505 (5th Cir. 2004); see also Sw. Refining Co. v. Bernal, 22 S.W.3d 425, 437

(Tex. 2000) (“The class action [under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 42] is a

procedural device intended to advance judicial economy by trying claims

together that lend themselves to collective treatment.”). Thus, while a class

action may lead to certain types of remedies or relief, a class action is not itself

a remedy. See Jock, 646 F.3d at 132 (Winter, J., dissenting) (“My colleagues also

rely upon the provision in the present agreement that the arbitrator may award

any legal or equitable relief generally available in courts. Clearly, this provision

refers only to relief in the form of an award based on a violation of law or

contract —damages, injunctions, etc.—and not to the availability of procedures

used to pursue such relief. A class can be certified and yet not get ‘relief,’ i.e. it

may lose.”).

The arbitrator concluded that class arbitration was a potential remedy

here because Section 132.121(a) of the Texas Education Code allows for class

action lawsuits to address violations of the Code. Even aside from the fact that

a class action cannot properly be considered a “remedy” under state or federal

law, Section 132.121(a) addresses only class action litigation in state court, and

does not support the conclusion that the parties agreed to class arbitration. 

Indeed, the central purpose of the arbitration agreement is to avoid such

provisions of state law, not to incorporate them into the arbitration agreement. 

In other words, the mere fact that the parties would otherwise be subject to class

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action in the absence of an arbitration agreement is not a sufficient basis to

conclude that they agreed to class arbitration when they entered into an

arbitration agreement. Nor can the Texas Education Code class action provision

be considered “a ‘default rule’ under which an arbitration clause is construed as

allowing class arbitration in the absence of express consent.” Stolt-Nielsen, 130

S. Ct. at 1768-69. 

Finally, the arbitrator erroneously basedhis conclusion on the agreement’s

silence with respect to class arbitration. The arbitrator suggested that the

School, as the drafter of the agreement, had an obligation to affirmatively state

that the agreement precluded class arbitration. This rationale, however, is

directly contrary to Stolt-Nielsen’s holding that arbitrators should not“presume,

consistent with their limited powers under the FAA, that the parties’ mere

silence . . . constitutes consent” to class arbitration. Id. at 1776. Stolt-Nielsen

requires that the parties “agree[] to authorize” class arbitration, not merely that

they fail to bar such a proceeding. Id. (emphasis omitted).

We conclude, therefore, that the arbitrator lacked a contractual basis upon

which to conclude that the parties agreed to authorize class arbitration. At

most, the agreement in this case could support a finding that the parties did not

preclude class arbitration, but under Stolt-Nielsen this is not enough. The

arbitrator therefore exceeded his authority in ordering the parties to submit to

a class arbitration proceeding, and the district court should have vacated the

award. 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4); see Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1776. 

The Second Circuit, applying Stolt-Nielsen, has come to a different

conclusion. In Jock v. Sterling Jewelers Inc., 646 F.3d 113 (2d Cir. 2011), cert. 13

The Third Circuit has also recently addressed this issue. See Sutter v. Oxford Health 13

Plans LLC, 675 F.3d 215 (3d Cir. 2012). Like the Second Circuit, the Third Circuit in Sutter

confirmed an arbitrator’s class arbitration award, finding it consistent with Stolt-Nielsen. Id.

at 223-25. We disagree with Sutter for essentially the reasons stated herein with respect to the

Second Circuit’s Jock decision.

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denied Mar. 19, 2012, a group of female employees filed both a class action

lawsuit and a class arbitration complaint, alleging that their employer, Sterling

Jewelers, engaged in gender discrimination. Id. at 115-16. The district court

referred the class action lawsuit to arbitration and the parties submitted to the

arbitrator the question of whether their agreement permitted class arbitration. 

Id. at 116. The arbitrator found that the agreement permitted class arbitration

because it “cannot be construed to prohibit class arbitration,” and there was “no

mention of class claims.” Id. at 117. The arbitrator interpreted the agreement

under applicable state law, and “construed the absence of an express prohibition

on class claims against the contract’s drafter, Sterling.” Id. The arbitrator also

reasoned that Sterling had declined to revise the contract “despite several

arbitral decisions permitting class claims in the absence of an express

prohibition.” Id. The district court denied Sterling’s motion to vacate the award,

and Sterling appealed. In the interim, the Supreme Court issued Stolt-Nielsen,

and Jock moved the district court for relief from its order. The district court

then vacated the award based upon Stolt-Nielsen. The plaintiffs appealed. Id.

at 118. 

On appeal, a panel of the Second Circuit, with one judge dissenting,

reversed the district court’s order and remanded with instructions to confirm the

award. The majority explained that the district court erroneously “focused . . .

on whether the arbitrator had correctly interpreted the arbitration agreement

itself.” Id. at 123. Instead, it should have restricted its analysis to whether the

parties had submitted the class arbitration issue to the arbitrator and “whether

the agreement or the law categorically prohibited the arbitrator from reaching

that issue.” Id. at 123. 

The majority distinguished the case before it from the stipulation of silence

inStolt-Nielsen, explaining “[t]he plaintiffs’ concession that there was no explicit

agreement to permit class arbitration . . . is not the same thing as stipulating

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that the parties had reached no agreement on the issue.” Id. The district court

erred when it substituted its own judgment for the arbitator’s in deciding

whether the record demonstrated an implicit class arbitration agreement. Id.

at 124. The majority reasoned that, because the class arbitration issue was

submitted to the arbitrator, and neither the law nor the agreement barred the

arbitrator from deciding the issue, the arbitrator did not exceed her powers in

resolving the issue. Id. 

In so holding, the majority “reemphasiz[ed] that the primary thrust of [its]

decision is whether the district court applied the appropriate level of deference

when reviewing the arbitration award.” Id. The majority criticized the dissent

for focusing on the “correct” interpretation of Stolt-Nielsen rather than whether

the arbitrator exceeded her powers. Id. at 125. Ultimately, the majority

concluded, regardless of “whether the arbitrator was right or wrong in her

analysis, she had the authority to make the decision, and the parties to the

arbitration agreement are bound by it.” Id. at 127 (footnote omitted). 

Judge Winter dissented. He first noted that the same “silence” at issue in

Stolt-Nielsen was present in Jock, as neither party claimed that the arbitration

clauses at issue either “specifically authorize[d] or specifically preclude[d] class

arbitration.” Id. at 128 (Winter, J., dissenting). He acknowledged that an

implicit agreement to arbitrate is permissible under Stolt-Nielsen, but argued

that an implicit agreement cannot be inferred from an arbitration agreement’s

silence or failure to preclude class arbitrations, “much less from thin air.” Id.

at 129. Nowhere in the arbitrator’s opinion, Judge Winter reasoned, did the

arbitrator “purport to identify any provision of the agreement supporting the

existence of an implied agreement”; in fact, many provisions of the agreement

supported the conclusion that only bilateral arbitration was permissible. Id. In

this regard, Judge Winter discounted the arbitrator’s reliance on the “any relief”

provision of the arbitration agreements, concluding that it could not support an

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implicit agreement to submit to class arbitration, as class arbitration is a

“procedure[] used to pursue . . . relief,” not relief itself. Id. at 132. Finally,

Judge Winter rejected the majority’s reliance on the deferential standard of

review, noting that the same standard of review was applicable in Stolt-Nielsen,

but it did not prevent the Court from vacating the award. Id. at 133. 

We respectfully disagree with the Second Circuit’s decision in Jock. We

read Stolt-Nielsen as requiring courts to ensure that an arbitrator has a legal

basis for his class arbitration determination, even while applying the

appropriately deferential standard of review. 130 S. Ct. at 1775. Such an

analysis necessarily requires some consideration of the arbitrator’s award and

rationale. Instead of examining the arbitrator’s award, the Jock majority

confirmed the award even though the award based its conclusion in part upon

the agreement’s failure to expressly prohibit class arbitration, a rationale that

is incompatible with Stolt-Nielsen. To the extent that the Second Circuit 14

decided not to undertake an inquiry into the arbitrator’s reasoning, we must part

ways. 

Nor can we agree that the deferential standard of review applicable to

arbitration awards precludes such an inquiry. Indeed, the same standard of

review was at issue in Stolt-Nielsen, but it did not prevent the Court from

examining and vacating the arbitrator’s award. Furthermore, we are persuaded

by the Supreme Court’s lengthy discussion of the significant disadvantages of

class arbitration, id. at 1776, a discussion that the Jock majority largely

We note that the arbitral award in Jock was issued before the Supreme Court’s Stolt- 14

Nielsen decision. This led the Jock majority to explain that the “arbitrator faithfully followed

the law as it existed at the time of her decision,” and an “intervening change of law, standing

alone, [does not] provide[] grounds for vacating an otherwise proper arbitral award.” 646 F.3d

at 125. It is not clear, however, whether the court would have reached the same result if the

arbitrator’s award had been issued after Stolt-Nielsen. 

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ignored. Together, Stolt-Nielsen and Concepcion indicate that arbitrators 15

should not find implied agreements to submit to class arbitration, and courts

should not confirm arbitral awards that order parties into such a proceeding,

without a contractual or legal basis for doing so. While we cannot substitute our

own judgment for that of an arbitrator, we also cannot confirm an award that

Supreme Court precedent requires us to vacate.

To summarize, we conclude that the arbitrator in this case exceeded his

powers by ordering the parties to submit to class arbitration without a

contractual or legal basis. The district court thus erred in denying the School’s

motion to vacate the award. 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4); see Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at

1775-76. Pursuant to Section 10(b) of the FAA, we must either “‘direct a

rehearing by the arbitrators’ or decide the question that was originally referred

to the panel.” Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1770 (internal quotation marks

omitted). Because we conclude, as did the Stolt-Nielsen Court, that “there can

be only one possible outcome on the facts before us,” there is no need to direct a

rehearing by the arbitrator. Id. This arbitration must proceed bilaterally.

III. CONCLUSION

For the reasons stated above, we REVERSE the order of the district court

and REMAND this case with instructions to refer the parties to bilateral

arbitration.

Only the dissent in Jock discussed at length the Supreme Court’s recent concerns 15

about class arbitration. 646 F.3d at 131 (Winter, J., dissenting).

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DENNIS, Circuit Judge, specially concurring:

I join the majority’s opinion, except Part II.1, and write separately to add

some observations regarding Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp., 130

S. Ct. 1758 (2010), which might prove to be crucial in future cases.

1.

I agree with the majority’s conclusion in Part II.1 of its opinion that the

district court did not err in referring the issue of class arbitration vel non to the

arbitrator, but I am not persuaded that “the parties’ agreement to the AAA’s

Commercial Rules also constitutes consent to the Supplementary Rules.” 

Majority Op. 8. Instead, I believe that reference of the question to the arbitrator

is required by our circuit precedent in Pedcor Management Co., Inc. Welfare

Benefit Plan v. Nations Personnel of Texas, Inc., 343 F.3d 355 (5th Cir. 2003),

which held that, “pursuant to Green Tree [Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S.

444 (2003)], arbitrators should decide whether class arbitration is available or

forbidden.” Pedcor, 343 F.3d at 363.

In Pedcor, this court considered the upshot of the splintered decision in

Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003). In Green Tree, Justice

Breyer wrote a plurality opinion, joined by Justices Scalia, Souter, and

Ginsburg, which concluded that the arbitrator, not the court, should decide the

class arbitration question. Id. at 453. Justice Stevens cast the fifth vote for the 1

judgment to vacate and remand the state court’s decision; but he did not join

Justice Breyer’s opinion. Id. at 454-55 (Stevens, J., concurring in the judgment

and dissenting in part). Justice Stevens noted that “[a]rguably the

interpretation of the parties’ agreement [to permit class arbitration or not]

Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justices O’Connor and Kennedy, dissented on the 1

grounds that “this determination is one for the courts, not for the arbitrator,” Green Tree, 539

U.S. at 455 (Rehnquist, C.J., dissenting); and Justice Thomas dissented separately on the

basis that he “believe[d] that the [FAA] does not apply to proceedings in state courts,” 539 U.S.

at 460 (Thomas, J., dissenting).

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should have been made in the first instance by the arbitrator, rather than the

court.” Id. at 455. However, because Justice Stevens believed that the state

court’s “decision to conduct a class-action arbitration was correct as a matter of

law, and because petitioner has merely challenged the merits of that decision

without claiming that it was made by the wrong decisionmaker,” he did not

think that remanding the case was necessary. Id. Nonetheless, Justice Stevens

concurred in the plurality’s judgment “[i]n order to avoid [there being no

controlling judgment of the Court], and because Justice BREYER’s opinion

expresses a view of the case close to my own.” Id.

In analyzing Green Tree, the Pedcor panel applied the well-established

principle that “when we are confronted with a plurality opinion, we look to that

position taken by those Members who concurred in the judgments on the

narrowest grounds.” 343 F.3d at 358 (internal quotation marks omitted). The

panel reasoned that Justice Stevens’ opinion “fails to constitute the most narrow

grounds on which the case was decided.” Id. at 358. Instead, the Pedcor panel

concluded that the narrowest grounds for the Green Tree judgment were those

expressed by Justice Breyer’s plurality opinion. Id. at 358-59. Thus, the panel

held that “pursuant to Green Tree, arbitrators should decide whether class

arbitration is available or forbidden.” Id. at 363. Although the Pedcor panel

indicated that Justice Stevens might have tacitly agreed with the plurality on

this point, see 343 F.3d at 358-59, that view was not necessary to or part of the

Pedcor panel’s holding.

In Stolt-Nielsen, the Court recognized that Justice Stevens’ opinion in

Green Tree did not decide the question of whether the arbitrator or the court

should decide the class arbitration question, and “[t]hus, [Green Tree] did not

yield a majority decision on” that issue. 130 S. Ct. at 1771-72. However, the

Stolt-Nielsen Court explicitly declined to address this issue: “[W]e need not

revisit that question here because the parties’ supplemental agreement

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expressly assigned this issue to the arbitration panel, and no party argues that

this assignment was impermissible.” Id. Thus, Stolt-Nielsen does not alter the

status of the Green Tree plurality opinion, and does not affect our holding in

Pedcor that the Green Tree plurality provided the narrowest grounds for the

judgment in that case. Accordingly, in my view we are still bound to follow our

precedent in Pedcor. See Martin v. Medtronic, Inc., 254 F.3d 573, 577 (5th Cir.

2001) (“[T]he Supreme Court decision must be more than merely illuminating

with respect to the case before us, because a panel of this court can only overrule

a prior panel decision if ‘such overruling is unequivocally directed by controlling

Supreme Court precedent.’” (quoting United States v. Zuniga-Salinas, 945 F.2d

1302, 1306 (5th Cir. 1991)). Similarly, the Seventh Circuit recently concluded

that Stolt-Nielsen did not upset that court’s post-Green Tree holding in

Employers Ins. Co. of Wausau v. Century Indem. Co., 443 F.3d 573 (7th Cir.

2006), that the arbitrator should decide whether an arbitration agreement

allows for class arbitration. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mass., Inc. v. BCS Ins.

Co., 671 F.3d 635, 639 (7th Cir. 2011) (Easterbrook, C.J.) (“Stolt–Nielsen did not

[address whether an arbitrator should decide the class arbitration question]. 

This leaves in place our post-[Green Tree] decision in Wausau.”).2

Therefore, I would follow Pedcor to uphold the district court’s referral of

the class arbitration question to the arbitrator.

See also Quilloin v. Tenet HealthSystem Phila., Inc., 673 F.3d 221, 232 (3d Cir. 2012) 2

(“Silence regarding class arbitration generally indicates a prohibition against class arbitration,

but the actual determination as to whether class action is prohibited is a question of

interpretation and procedure for the arbitrator.” (citing Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1775));

Vilches v. The Travelers Companies, Inc., 413 F. App’x 487, 492 (3d Cir. 2011) (unpublished)

(following Green Tree plurality and Stolt-Nielsen in holding, “[w]here contractual silence is

implicated, ‘the arbitrator and not a court should decide whether a contract[ was] indeed silent

on the issue of class arbitration,’ and ‘whether a contract with an arbitration clause forbids

class arbitration.’” (alteration in original) (quoting Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1771-72)

(internal quotation mark omitted)).

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2.

I agree with the majority that under the principles of Stolt–Nielsen that

are clearly applicable to this case, we must reverse the district court’s affirmance

of the arbitrator’s class arbitration award and remand the case with instructions

to refer the parties to bilateral arbitration. However, a careful reading and

assessment of Stolt-Nielsen reveals that it is distinguishable from the present

case in respects that may be significant in future cases.

First, as the majority notes, Majority Op. 11, Stolt-Nielsen fully reaffirmed

the exceedingly deferential standard that federal courts must apply when

reviewing arbitration decisions. Indeed, the Court began its analysis in StoltNielsen by restating this deference in no uncertain terms: “Petitioners contend

that the decision of the arbitration panel must be vacated, but in order to obtain

that relief, they must clear a high hurdle.” 130 S. Ct. at 1767. The Court

explained this exceptionally narrow standard of judicial review of arbitral

decisions: “It is not enough for petitioners to show that the [arbitration] panel

committed an error—or even a serious error.” Id. (citing E. Associated Coal

Corp. v. Mine Workers, 531 U.S. 57, 62 (2000); United Paperworkers Int’l Union

AFL-CIO v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 38 (1987)). Instead, the Court stated, “[i]t

is only when [an] arbitrator strays from interpretation and application of the

agreement and effectively ‘dispense[s] his own brand of industrial justice’ that

his decision may be unenforceable.’” Id. (alterations in original) (quoting Major

League Baseball Players Ass’n v. Garvey, 532 U.S. 504, 509 (2001) (per curiam),

in turn quoting United Steelworkers of Am. v. Enter. Wheel & Car Corp., 363

U.S. 593, 597 (1960)); see also United Paperworkers, 484 U.S. at 38 (“[A]s long

as the arbitrator is even arguably construing or applying the contract and acting

within the scope of his authority, that a court is convinced he committed serious

error does not suffice to overturn his decision.”); United Steelworkers, 363 U.S.

at 597 (an arbitration award must be upheld “so long as it draws its essence”

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from the agreement). Thus, Stolt-Nielsen reaffirmed the Court’s longstanding

precedent that courts must review arbitration decisions with the utmost

deference.

The Court’s decision to vacate the arbitrator’s class arbitration decision in

Stolt-Nielsen did not alter this exceptionally deferential standard of review. 

There, the Court, in deciding that the arbitration panel had exceeded its power,

relied upon and repeatedly called attention to the fact that the parties had

expressly stipulated that they had reached no agreement on the issue of class

arbitration. 130 S. Ct. at 1768 (“[T]he parties agreed their agreement was

‘silent’ in the sense that they had not reached any agreement on the issue of

class arbitration.”); id. at 1766 (“The parties . . . stipulated that the arbitration

clause was ‘silent’ with respect to class arbitration. Counsel for [the Respondent]

explained to the arbitration panel that the term ‘silent’ did not simply mean that

the clause made no express reference to class arbitration. Rather, he said, ‘[a]ll

the parties agree that when a contract is silent on an issue there's been no

agreement that has been reached on the issue.’”). Thus, “the [arbitration] panel

had no occasion to ascertain the parties’ intention” regarding class arbitration

“because [their stipulation stated that] the parties were in complete agreement

regarding their intent.” Id. at 1770 (internal quotation marks omitted) (“Th[eir]

stipulation left no room for an inquiry regarding the parties’ intent, and any

inquiry into that settled question would have been outside the panel’s assigned

task.”). The Court did not need to undertake a deferential review of the

arbitration contract or the arbitration panel’s class arbitration decision; but

instead, merely “held that [the] arbitration panel exceeded its power under the

FAA by imposing class arbitration procedures based on policy judgments rather

than the arbitration agreement itself or some background principle of contract

law.” AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740, 1750 (2011) (citing

Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1773-76). Thus, the Court did not alter the usual,

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exceedingly deferential standard of judicial review that courts must apply to

arbitrators’ contract interpretations based on the parties’ written agreement

itself or on some background principle of contracts law.

Second, Stolt-Nielsen does not require that there be an express agreement

to class arbitration in order for arbitrators, within their powers, to find that the

parties agreed to class arbitration. See Stolt-Nielsen, 130 S. Ct. at 1775 (“[A]

party may not be compelled under the FAA to submit to class arbitration unless

there is a contractual basis for concluding that the party agreed to do so.”); id.

at 1776 n.10 (“We have no occasion to decide what contractual basis may support

a finding that the parties agreed to authorize class-action arbitration.”); see also

id. at 1783 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (“[T]he Court does not insist on express

consent to class arbitration.”). There simply is no basis for the arbitrator to find

such an implicit agreement to class arbitration in the present case; however,

there may be such a basis in the parties’ agreements in other cases.

Third, Stolt-Nielsen did not address a case in which a party is

unsophisticated and the arbitration agreement is part of a contract of adhesion;3

and in which “adjudication is costly and individual claims are no more than

modest in size, [in which case,] without [class proceedings], potential claimants

will have little, if any, incentive to seek vindication of their rights.” See id. at

1783 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (citing Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S.

591, 617 (1997)); see also id. (“‘The realistic alternative to a class action is not 17

million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic

sues for $30.’” (quoting Carnegie v. Household Int’l, Inc., 376 F.3d 656, 661 (7th

Cir. 2004))). In other cases, the Court has “recognized [arbitration] as an

In Stolt-Nielsen the arbitration agreement was between “sophisticated business

3

entities,” where the form of the agreement was selected by the entity seeking class arbitration,

and high-stakes, international antitrust claims were involved. 130 S. Ct. at 1775; id. at 1764-

65; Joint Appendix at 73a, Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp., 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010)

(No. 08-1198), 2009 WL 2777896.

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effective vehicle for vindicating statutory rights, but only ‘so long as the

prospective litigant may effectively vindicate its statutory cause of action in the

arbitral forum.’” In re Am. Express Merchants’ Litig., 667 F.3d 204, 214 (2d Cir.

2012) (quoting Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473

U.S. 614, 636-37 (1985)). That is, the Court has “noted that should clauses in a

contract operate ‘as a prospective waiver of a party’s right to pursue statutory

remedies for antitrust violations, we would have little hesitation in condemning

the agreement as against public policy.’” In re Am. Express Merchants’ Litig.,

667 F.3d at 214 (quoting Mitsubishi, 473 U.S. at 637 n.19). Such considerations

led the Second Circuit recently to conclude that a class arbitration waiver

provision was unenforceable, and that Stolt-Nielsen does not hold otherwise. Id.

at 216-19. Although the instant case involves an adhesive consumer contract, 4

the stakes—roughly $51,000 in student loan debt—are high enough that we may

not be justified in determining that “potential claimants,” such as Reed, “will

have little, if any, incentive to seek vindication of their rights.” Stolt-Nielsen,

130 S. Ct. at 1783 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). However, in different kinds of

future cases, courts may need to consider whether an arbitrator can properly

find an implicit agreement to class arbitration procedures because bilateral

arbitration would otherwise offer claimants to modest amounts no practicable

or realistic remedy.

Subject to my disagreement with the majority’s reasoning in Part II.1, and

with the foregoing observations on the Court’s decision in Stolt-Nielsen, I concur

in the remainder of the majority opinion.

Cf. Cruz v. Cingular Wireless, LLC, 648 F.3d 1205, 1215 (11th Cir. 2011) (noting “the

4

possibility that in some cases, an arbitration agreement may be invalidated on public policy

grounds where it effectively prevents the claimant from vindicating her statutory cause of

action” because of a class arbitration waiver (citing Mitsubishi, 473 U.S. at 637)).

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