{"id":904209,"date":"2025-04-09T16:31:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T22:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904209"},"modified":"2025-04-09T16:31:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T22:31:57","slug":"arbitration-who-decides-who-court-sometimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/arbitration-who-decides-who-court-sometimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Decides Who Can Arbitrate? The Court. . .Sometimes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christopher G. Hill | <a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/who-decides-who-can-arbitrate-the-court-sometimes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Construction Law Musings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have often discussed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/alternate-dispute-resolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">alternate dispute resolution (ADR)<\/a>\u00a0here at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/about-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Construction Law Musings<\/a>.\u00a0 In most of those posts, I\u2019ve either discussed the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/more-musings-on-why-i-mediate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">advantages<\/a>\u00a0and\/or disadvantages of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/christopherhill-law.com\/adr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">arbitration or mediation<\/a>.\u00a0 In any of the other ADR-related posts, the assumption was that the question about the arbitrability of the claim (namely that the claim was either properly before the court or properly in arbitration).\u00a0 A relatively recent case from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is an exception.\u00a0 In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Isernia-v-Danville-Regional.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Isernia. v. Danville Reg\u2019l Med. Ctr.<\/a>, the Court was faced with deciding who decides the question of where the claim is to be resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Isernia, the court looked at an appeal from a district court order granting a motion to compel arbitration by third parties that were, critically, non-signatories to the contract containing the arbitration provision.&nbsp; Further, that same arbitration provision gave the arbitrator the final say on whether the claim made was in fact one that was to be decided in arbitration (yes, such provisions are enforceable. . . mostly).&nbsp;<br>The Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded the district court\u2019s decision, holding that a court, not an arbitrator, must determine whether a non-signatory can enforce an arbitration agreement. Arbitration agreements are governed by contract law, so a party must establish its entitlement to enforce an agreement before invoking its provisions. Absent such a showing, an arbitrator has no authority to make any determinations in such matters. Because the Appellees were non-signatories to the Agreement, the district court was required to determine whether Appellees were entitled to enforce the Agreement under Virginia law before compelling arbitration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, where a\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/arbitration-or-litigation-for-construction-disputes\/\">third party non-signatory<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>seeks to enforce the arbitration provisions of a contract, it is the Court, and not the arbitrator that determines if and when that third party can enforce those provisions.\u00a0 While this is not a published opinion and is not directly applicable to construction claims, per se, it does provide some insight into some of the basic issues presented by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/to-require-arbitration-or-not-to-require-arbitration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">contractual arbitration provisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, I recommend that you consult with an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/christopherhill-law.com\/about-law-office-of-christopher-g-hill-pc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">experienced Virginia construction attorney<\/a>\u00a0when trying to answer the types of questions set out in this opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings I have often discussed\u00a0alternate dispute resolution (ADR)\u00a0here at\u00a0Construction Law Musings.\u00a0 In most of those posts, I\u2019ve either discussed the\u00a0advantages\u00a0and\/or disadvantages of\u00a0arbitration or mediation.\u00a0 In any of the other ADR-related posts, the assumption was that the question about the arbitrability of the claim (namely that the claim was either&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/arbitration-who-decides-who-court-sometimes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Who Decides Who Can Arbitrate? The Court. . .Sometimes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41],"tags":[9895,42,10467],"class_list":["post-904209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arbitration","tag-advise-consult","tag-arbitration-2","tag-third-party","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who Decides Who Can Arbitrate? 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