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A federal court in Pennsylvania held that an arbitration agreement requiring the arbitrator to "follow the rule of law" and "only award remedies provided in this Agreement" did not encompass antitrust claims.
In In re Pharmacy Benefit Managers Antitrust Litigation, No. 06-md-01782-JF, 2006 WL 3759712 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 18, 2006), a class action alleging violations of antitrust laws, the issue before the Court was whether preliminary determinations should be submitted to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement.
The Court concluded that antitrust claims were not within the scope of the arbitration agreement.
The parties limited arbitration to "remedies provided in this Agreement." Since the parties "never intended this type of dispute to be submitted to arbitration," even the preliminary determinations were not subject to arbitration.
The Court also noted that the arbitration clause was likely a contract of adhesion because it was "buried" in the middle of a 12-page document in very small text.
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