Opinion ID: 2102261
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Merits Considerations by the Courts

Text: It is also clear that the merits of the grievance are not the courts' concern (Matter of Board of Educ. v Watertown Educ. Assn., 74 NY2d 912, 913; see generally, Siegel, New York Practice § 589, at 945 [2d ed]). Even an apparent weakness of the claimed grievance is not a factor in the court's threshold determination. It is the arbitrator who weighs the merits of the claim (see, Matter of Franklin Cent. School [Franklin Teachers Assn.], 51 NY2d 348, 356, supra). CPLR 7501 explicitly provides: In determining any matter arising under this article, the court shall not consider whether the claim with respect to which arbitration is sought is tenable, or otherwise pass upon the merits of the dispute. This was added by section 47 of chapter 532 of the Laws of 1963 for the purpose of abrogating what was left of the so-called Cutler-Hammer rule ( Matter of International Assn. of Machinists [Cutler-Hammer, Inc.], 297 NY 519), in which our courts had taken a more expansive view of the merits, in determining arbitrability. While some case records contain enough information for a court to make a penetrating analysis of the scope of the substantive provisions of the CBA, an undertaking of that kind is not the function of the court. A judicial inquiry of that sort would involve an inapt flirtation with the merits, or an inappropriate use of the judicial scalpel to split the hairs that mark the perimeters of the contractual provisions. History, legislation, and experience dictate that courts not revert to the business of merits inquiries of the kind that existed under the Cutler-Hammer doctrine before the enactment of CPLR 7501.