Opinion ID: 76022
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Dispute and Initial Arbitration

Text: 5 In April 1999, MedPartners started paying Orthopedic Center less than the minimum monthly payment outlined in the Agreement. And, in May 1999, MedPartners sent Orthopedic Center a letter notifying Orthopedic Center that MedPartners intended to terminate the Agreement in six months if the doctors did not improve their level of industry. Not surprisingly, the letter created some coolness on the doctors' part. 6 Orthopedic Center first demanded, and MedPartners agreed, to arbitrate their dispute over the amount of the April 1999 monthly payment. The parties began to arbitrate, in Florida, only the issue of the proper amount of the April payment before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). But, after the May payment was also less than the minimum monthly payment required by the Agreement, Orthopedic Center modified its arbitration complaint to add claims for the May payment and for anticipatory repudiation, and requested over $40 million in damages. 7 MedPartners objected to the anticipatory-repudiation claim as outside the scope of the Agreement's arbitration clauses. The AAA arbitration panel disagreed. The panel concluded that the anticipatory-repudiation claim was arbitrable (that is, within the scope of the Agreement's arbitration clauses) and continued with the arbitration in Florida, both on Orthopedic Center's claims for adjustment in the April and May payments and on Orthopedic Center's anticipatory-repudiation claim. 8