Courtyard Gardens Health and Rehabilitation, LLC; Senior Living Communities of Arkansas, LLC; Arkansas Snf…

Summary

The court held that the unavailability of the National Arbitration Forum did not make the parties’ arbitration agreements impossible to perform. Reading the agreement as a whole, the court concluded that the NAF reference was an ancillary logistical term, not an integral condition of arbitration, and that the Federal Arbitration Act required appointment of a substitute arbitrator. Justice Danielson, dissenting, would have held that incorporation of the NAF Code made the NAF an integral part of the agreement and would have affirmed the denial of arbitration.