Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., 460 U.S. 1 (1983) #
One Line Summary: Established that the FAA applies to actions in state court and a policy of rapid and unobstructed enforcement of arbitration agreements.
- Wikipedia
- Court Opinion (Court Listener) (unread)
- Oyez
- Majority Author: William Brennan
- Dissents: William Rehnquist joined by Burger, O’Connor
Pull Quote (from majority):
Moses H Cone
...any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration...
...unless it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute...
Section 2 is a congressional declaration of a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements, notwithstanding any state substantive or procedural policies to the contrary. The effect of the section is to create a body of federal substantive law of arbitrability, applicable to any arbitration agreement within the coverage of the act.
Interestingly this was a 6–3 decision, signed by all the liberal justices and to which the conservative justices—Justices Rehnquist, Burger, and O’Connor—dissented. 1
Stone, K. V. W. (2023). Arbitration—From Sacred Cow to Golden Calf: Three Phases in the History of the Federal Arbitration Act. 23. pp 126 ↩︎