Eric Anderton and Jackson Key Practice Solutions, LLC v. the Practice-Monroeville, P.c.

Summary

The court held that neither Jackson Key nor Anderton waived any right to arbitrate because their district-court litigation concerned a separate Microsoft Word transaction, and Anderton was not a party to that action. The court further held that the contract's incorporation of American Arbitration Association rules clearly and unmistakably delegated to the arbitrator the threshold question whether nonsignatories could compel arbitration. The order denying arbitration was therefore reversed and remanded. Justice Murdock, dissenting, would have required the court to decide whether the arbitration agreement governed the parties before referring that question to an arbitrator, while Justice Shaw concurred in the waiver analysis and in the result but would have required a judicial gate-keeping determination concerning the delegation of arbitrability.