Opinion ID: 215760
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The General Legal Framework: Does the Dispute Fall Within the Scope of the Parties' Arbitration Clause?

Text: It is axiomatic that arbitration is a creature of contract. See United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 582, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960). Where there is a validly formed and enforceable arbitration agreement, a court may order arbitration of a particular dispute only where the court is satisfied that the parties agreed to arbitrate that dispute.  Granite Rock Co. v. Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 2847, 2856, 177 L.Ed.2d 567 (2010) (citing First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938, 943, 115 S.Ct. 1920, 131 L.Ed.2d 985 (1995); AT & T Techs., 475 U.S. at 648-49, 106 S.Ct. 1415). Our focus in this inquiry is to determine and effectuate the parties' intent, not to substitute our own preferences. Municipality of San Juan v. Corporación Para El Fomento Económico De La Ciudad Capital, 415 F.3d 145, 151 (1st Cir.2005). Here, the parties' dispute concerns the interpretation of the duration clause of the Agreement. We may only affirm the district court's order compelling arbitration if this issue is within the scope of the parties' arbitration clause. That clause of the Agreement provides that any dispute over [the Agreement's] interpretation or application shall be submitted to binding arbitration. The parties did not place any limitations on that language, and certainly did not exclude controversies relating to the duration or termination of the contract. A question as to the meaning of the term full public opening is manifestly a dispute over [the Agreement's] interpretation or application. Accordingly, by its own phraseology, the arbitration clause applies to the issue in dispute, which was appropriately referred to the arbitrator for resolution. This result, grounded in the unambiguous language of the parties' arbitration clause, also comports with our precedents. Inquiring into the scope of similar arbitration clauses, we have concluded that they encompass disputes over the interpretation of duration language. In International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1228 v. Freedom WLNE-TV, Inc., 760 F.2d 8, for example, we considered an arbitration clause that covered [a]ll problems arising out of grievances or out of the application or interpretation of [the a]greement or the performance of any party under it, and inferred from this broad language the parties' agreement to arbitrate any dispute involving construction of the substantive provisions of the contract. Id. at 11. We thus held that the employer was required to submit to arbitration the question of whether its agreement with the union continued in effect beyond its stated expiration date. Id. Likewise, in Municipality of San Juan v. Corporación Para El Fomento Económico De La Ciudad Capital, 415 F.3d 145, we declared it manifest that the issue of contract duration must be decided by the arbitrator, where the arbitration clause covered any controversy aris[ing] between the parties with regard to their responsibilities and obligations under this contract. Id. at 150; cf. Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444, 451-52, 123 S.Ct. 2402, 156 L.Ed.2d 414 (2003) (plurality opinion) (suggesting that where parties agreed to submit to the arbitrator `[a]ll disputes, claims, or controversies arising from or relating to this contract or the relationships which result from this contract,' a dispute about what the arbitration contract ... means ... is a dispute `relating to this contract' and constitutes evidence that the parties seem to have agreed that an arbitrator, not a judge, would answer the relevant question). The appellant acknowledges that the Agreement's arbitration clause covers a broad range of matters. On appeal, the Hotel stakes its hopes on the claim that under the Supreme Court's decision in Howsam, 537 U.S. 79, 123 S.Ct. 588, its dispute with the Union must be considered a question of arbitrability that is presumptively for a court to resolve. [4]