To date, courts have largely limited the impact of the Rent-A-Center decision to arbitration agreements with explicit delegation clauses. But, what if Rent-A-Center applied to every single arbitration agreement that mentioned the AAA rules?  That is a very real possibility, and one which would send almost all arbitrability disputes to arbitrators.

The ­Rent-A-Center decision used “delegation clause” to mean any aspect of an arbitration agreement that authorizes an arbitrator to decide questions about the validity of the arbitration agreement.  Rent-A-Center held that unless a party could allege a fatal flaw in the delegation clause itself, the arbitrator should decide the arbitrability question.  Courts have applied that ruling to explicit delegation clauses like this one: “Any issue concerning … the formation, applicability, interpretation or enforceability of [the arbitration agreement] . . . will be resolved by the arbitrators.”  Rai v. Ernst & Young, LLP, 2010 WL 3518056, at *1 (E.D.Mich. Sept. 8, 2010).  However, not many courts have yet had to struggle with what really constitutes a delegation clause?  Must it be so explicit?

In the 20 years before Rent-A-Center, many federal circuits reached a related decision: that an adoption of the AAA rules clearly and unmistakably demonstrates the intent of the parties to delegate the question of arbitrability to the arbitrator.  That is because the various AAA rules themselves state that the arbitrator has the power to rule on any questions of arbitrability ( the same rule should hold for any forum whose rules delegate that same power).  At least the First, Second, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits agree in that holding (with only the Third and Tenth Circuits disagreeing).  SCOTUS has never addressed whether adopting the AAA rules clearly and unmistakably delegates arbitrability to the arbitrator. (See case cites at end.)

The question is – how long will it take for these two lines of cases to meld into an airtight zipper that excludes 99% of arbitrability challenges from courts?   Here is how the argument would go: 1) the arbitration agreement at issue calls for application of AAA rules; 2)  federal courts have concluded that the adoption of AAA rules is an unmistakable delegation of arbitrability to the arbitrator; 3) therefore, the sentence mentioning the AAA rules is a “delegation clause”; and 4) Rent-A-Center applies, such that the anti-arbitration party must specifically challenge that delegation clause in order to have the court hear the challenge.

Of course, it may be just that sort of result  — a nearly wholesale denial of the court venue to litigants who challenge their larger arbitration agreement — that will create a five-Justice majority in favor of a less harsh severability doctrine.

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ENDNOTE

Cases holding that the parties’ agreement to arbitrate under AAA rules constitutes a clear and unmistakable delegation of arbitrability to the arbitrator:  Fadal Machining Centers, L.L.C. v. Compumachine, Inc., 2011 W.L. 6254979, *2 (9th Cir. 2011); Fallo v. High-Tech Institute, 559 F.3d 874, 878 (8th Cir. 2009); Terminix Intern. Co., L.P. v. Palmer Ranch Ltd. Partnership, 432 F.3d 1327, 1332 (11th Cir. 2005); Contec Corp. v. Remote Solution, Co., Ltd., 398 F.3d 205, 208 (2d Cir. 2005); Qualcomm Inc. v. Nokia Corp., 466 F.3d 1366, 1372-73 (Fed. Cir. 2001); Apollo Computer, Inc. v. Berg, 886 F.2d 469, 473 (1st Cir. 1989) (relating to ICC, not AAA rules).

Two Circuits have declined to follow the majority.   In Quilloin v. Tenet Health System Philadelphia, Inc., 673 F.3d 221, 225-26, 230 (3d Cir. 2012), the Third Circuit held that the parties “did not agree to arbitrate the issue of arbitrability,” despite agreeing to abide by the procedural arbitration rules of the AAA in their arbitration agreement.  Similarly, in Riley Mfg. Co., Inc. v. Anchor Glass Container Corp., 157 F.3d 775, 780 (10th Cir. 1998), the court held that, although the arbitration agreement in question required submitting to the rules of the AAA, the court could properly resolve the issue of arbitrability.