Opinion ID: 213655
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Arbitrability of Pre-condition to Arbitration

Text: Appellants also allege that the parties' dispute over the validity of the MSA cannot be submitted to Arbitration because RMS did not comply with the Arbitration Clause's supposed pre-condition that the parties engage in good faith negotiations prior to arbitration. Furthermore, Appellants allege that the parties did not agree to submit to an arbitrator their disagreement over whether said precondition to arbitration was fulfilled. The parties disagree over whether the Arbitration Clause in fact establishes a condition precedent to arbitration requiring that the parties engage in good faith negotiations. Nevertheless, we do not have to resolve this disagreement because, assuming arguendo that the Arbitration Clause establishes such a pre-condition to arbitration, Appellants have not rebutted the presumption that the arbitrator should decide whether the parties complied with such a procedural pre-requisite to arbitration. See Howsam, 537 U.S. at 84, 123 S.Ct. 588; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 376 U.S. at 557-59, 84 S.Ct. 909 (holding that an arbitrator should decide whether the first steps of a grievance procedure were completed, where these steps are pre-requisites to arbitration). Accordingly, we find that the parties' disagreement over whether RMS complied with the MSA's alleged good faith negotiations pre-requisite to arbitration is an issue for the arbitrator to resolve in this case.