Opinion ID: 2510273
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Oklahoma Uniform Arbitration Act

Text: ¶ 3 It is the duty of this Court to inquire into its own jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of the court below. City of Lawton v. International Union of Police Ass'n, 2002 OK 1, ¶ 10, 41 P.3d 371, 376. Oklahoma Supreme Court Rule 1.60(i), 12 O.S.2001, ch. 12, app. (OSCR), provides that appeals made under the provisions of section 817 of the OUAA are appealable by right. Section 817 allows appeals from an order denying an application to compel arbitration made pursuant to section 803 of the OUAA. With limited exceptions, the OUAA applies to a written agreement or a provision in a written contract to submit controversies between the parties to arbitration. § 802(A) of the OUAA. Because Dell's application to compel arbitration alleged a written agreement to arbitrate claims against it, the dispute before this Court comes within the OUAA's purview as well as the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16 (1994 & Supp.2001) (FAA), as discussed in part IV below. The application of the OUAA and FAA are not mutually exclusive. See Volt v. Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. Univ., 489 U.S. 468, 477, 109 S.Ct. 1248, 103 L.Ed.2d 488 (1989). ¶ 4 The OUAA does not apply to collective bargaining agreements or contracts with reference to insurance except for those contracts between insurance companies. § 802 of the OUAA. The FAA does not except these two contracts from its application. Therefore these two types of agreements come under the FAA but not the OUAA. The denial of an application to compel arbitration under these type of contracts would not be appealable to this Court by right. See rule 1.60(i) of the OSCR. Here both the OUAA and the FAA are applicable. Because the OUAA is applicable here, the order denying Dell's application to compel arbitration is appealable by right under rule 1.60. Thus, this Court has jurisdiction of the appeal.