Opinion ID: 4528740
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The scope of the arbitration clauses

Text: As we noted earlier, Syllabus Point 2 of State ex rel. TD Ameritrade, Inc. v. Kaufman requires a court to consider “whether the claims averred by the plaintiff fall within the substantive scope of that arbitration agreement.” 225 W. Va. at 251, 692 S.E.2d at 294. The plaintiff contends that her claims of “fraud, misrepresentation, detrimental reliance, etc.” are her own separate, distinct claims and do not arise out of the Ameriprise brokerage and portfolio accounts. Basically, she asserts she had a vested right in her husband’s 401(k) account but defendant Evans induced her, through false representations and to her detriment, to consent to allow money to be removed from the 401(k) and be transferred to the Ameriprise accounts. Hence, the plaintiff argues that her fraud-type claims do not fall within the substantive scope of the arbitration clauses. We reject the plaintiff’s argument because we perceive that the fraud-type claims, as they are asserted by the plaintiff in her amended complaint, are inexorably intertwined with the Ameriprise accounts. The plaintiff’s amended complaint specifically 23 alleges she was induced by fraudulent statements from defendant Evans that the plaintiff’s beneficiary status on the brokerage account “could not be changed in the future without her consent[.]” The plaintiff’s amended complaint also alleges that the fraudulent statements caused the funds from both the brokerage and portfolio accounts to be “wrongfully distributed” to the decedent’s children, defendants Kristina Nicholls and Stephen Bayles. Moreover, the plaintiff’s amended complaint sought damages including the “benefits due under said contract[s.]” As the plaintiff pleaded her amended complaint, the record supports the circuit court’s finding that the plaintiff’s claims were entirely within the scope of the Ameriprise arbitration clauses. The plaintiff’s claims pursue relief related, directly and indirectly, to the brokerage and portfolio account contracts. The claims seek to enforce terms of the account contracts – mainly, to compel Ameriprise to comply with her interpretation of Mr. Bayles’s contractual choice of beneficiary, and to compel the disbursement of the proceeds in the accounts to her. On this record, we find no error by the circuit court. 15 The plaintiff also asserts that the circuit court erred in finding that the 15 arbitration agreements were not unconscionable. We have reviewed the record and find no error by the circuit court. 24