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A federal court in Alabama refused to consider a party's request to enjoin the opposing party from bringing a class arbitration because whether class arbitrations are permissible under the parties' agreement is a contract interpretation issue for the arbitrator to decide.
In Patriot Manufacturing, Inc. v. Dixon, No. 05-0321-WS-M, 2007 WL 841745 (S.D. Ala. Mar. 16, 2007), Patriot and Dixon were arbitrating a dispute after the Court granted Patriot's motion to compel arbitration in June 2005.
When Dixon submitted a demand for class arbitration to the arbitrator, Patriot attempted to return to court, seeking leave to amend and/or supplement its complaint to include a request for an order enjoining Dixon from pursuing any class arbitrations.
The Court denied Patriot's requested amendment as futile. Citing the United States Supreme Court's decision in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003), the Court pointed out that whether class arbitration is permissible is a matter of contract interpretation for the arbitrator, not the court, to decide.
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