Opinion ID: 1728953
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing to Enforce the Arbitration Agreement

Text: The plaintiffs contend that Oakwood Acceptance presented no evidence indicating that it had been assigned the purchase contract and arbitration agreement between the plaintiffs and Oakwood Homes. Oakwood Acceptance contends that this Court should not address the merits of this argument because the plaintiffs did not present it to the trial court. The plaintiffs may make in support of the trial court's judgment an argument not made to the trial court, see Smith v. Equifax Servs., Inc., 537 So.2d 463, 465 (Ala.1988); therefore, we may consider the merits of the plaintiffs' contention that Oakwood Acceptance cannot enforce the arbitration agreement between the plaintiffs and Oakwood Homes. The efficacy of that contention depends on the language of the agreement. Just as the arbitrability of the merits of a dispute depends upon whether the parties agreed to arbitrate that dispute, ... so the question `who has the primary power to decide arbitrability' turns upon what the parties agreed about that matter. First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938, 943, 115 S.Ct. 1920, 131 L.Ed.2d 985 (1995). Moreover, [w]hen deciding whether the parties agreed to arbitrate a certain matter (including arbitrability), courts generally ... should apply ordinary state-law principles that govern the formation of contracts. Id. at 944, 115 S.Ct. 1920. Courts should not assume that the parties agreed to arbitrate arbitrability unless there is `clea[r] and unmistakabl[e]' evidence that they did so. Id. at 944, 115 S.Ct. 1920. See also AT & T Technologies, Inc. v. Communications Workers of America, 475 U.S. 643, 106 S.Ct. 1415, 89 L.Ed.2d 648 (1986). In each of the two cases now before us, the arbitration agreement clearly provides that [a]ny challenges to the validity or enforceability of this Agreement shall be determined by the arbitrator(s). Therefore, whether Oakwood Acceptance has standing to enforce the arbitration agreement between Oakwood Homes and the plaintiffs is a question that must be decided by the arbitrator.