Opinion ID: 765873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arbitration - General Principles Under the FAA

Text: 22 The FAA was enacted to promote the enforcement of privately entered agreements to arbitrate, according to their terms. Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U.S. 52, 54 (1995) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). Through the FAA, Congress has declared a strong federal policy favoring arbitration as an alternative means of dispute resolution. Oldroyd v. Elmira Sav. Bank, FSB, 134 F.3d 72, 76 (2d Cir. 1998). As a result, the Supreme Court has instructed that any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration, whether the problem at hand is the construction of the contract language itself or an allegation of waiver, delay, or a like defense to arbitrability. Moses H. Cone Mem'l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24-25 (1983). This bias in favor of arbitration, is even stronger in the context of international transactions. Deloitte Noraudit A/S v. Deloitte Haskins & Sells, U.S., 9 F.3d 1060, 1063 (2d Cir. 1993). In determining whether a particular dispute is arbitrable, a court must engage in a two-part inquiry: it must decide (1) whether the parties agreed to arbitrate, and if so, (2) whether the scope of that agreement encompasses the asserted claims. SeeCampaniello Imports, Ltd. v. Saporiti Italia S.p.A., 117 F.3d 655, 666 (2d Cir. 1997). This case turns almost entirely on the first part of the inquiry - to wit, whether Chelsea agreed to arbitrate pursuant to paragraph 13 on the reverse side of the Confirmations at issue.