TRUCK INSURANCE EXCHANGE, APPELLANT,
v.
PEDIATRIX MEDICAL GROUP, INC. AND FARMER'S GROUP, INC., TRUCK UNDERWRITERS ASSOCIATION, APPELLEES
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Truck Insurance Exchange appealed the denial of its motion to compel arbitration in an insurance bad faith action. The court held that bad faith claims arising from an insurance policy containing an arbitration clause are arbitrable and should be stayed pending arbitration, applying the strong presumption favoring arbitration under federal law.
The court reversed the denial of the motion to compel arbitration and granted the petition for writ of certiorari as to the order denying a stay of proceedings. Bad faith claims that are inextricably intertwined with arbitrable policy interpretation issues must be arbitrated, and the trial court should have stayed the present case pending the outcome of the California arbitration.
[1] A presumption of arbitrability exists when a contract contains an arbitration provision.
[2] An order to arbitrate a grievance should not be denied unless it can be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation t…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“An order to arbitrate the particular grievance should not be denied unless it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute.”
Establishes the high threshold for refusing arbitration and the strong presumption favoring arbitration
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTruck Insurance Exchange and Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. had an insurance policy that included an arbitration clause covering disputes or difference…
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We reverse the order denying the appellant’s motion to compel arbitration and grant certiorari as to the order denying a stay of proceedings in this statutory insurance bad faith action, pending arbitration scheduled between the parties in California. The insurance policy in question provided for arbitration of disputes or differences of opinion “arising with respect to interpretation of this Policy or in the event of disagreement as to whether or not a particular settlement should be made....”. The issues raised in the statutory and common law bad faith claims are inextricably intertwined with arbitrable issues. See A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. v. Bing, 446 So.2d 134 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). There exists in law a presumption of arbi-trability when a contract contains an arbitration provision, and “ ‘[a]n order to arbitrate the particular grievance should not be denied unless it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute.’ ” AT & T Techs., Inc. v. Commc’ns Workers of Am., 475 U.S. 643, 650, 106 S.Ct. 1415, 89 L.Ed.2d 648 (1986) (quoting United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 582-83, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1352-53, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (I960)). The pending California arbitration proceeding will determine those issues which underlie the bad faith actions alleged in this case. The trial court should have granted the motion to compel arbitration of the underlying issues and stayed the present case until those issues are decided in the California arbitration.
Reversed as to the order to compel arbitration; petition for writ of certiorari granted.
WARNER, CIKLIN, JJ., and BLANC, PETER, Associate Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- United Steelworkers of Am. v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574 (U.S. 1960)
- AT&T Techs., Inc. v. Commc'ns Workers of Am., 475 U.S. 643 (U.S. 1986)
- A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. v. Bing, 446 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)