The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of the motion to compel arbitration of defendant’s malicious prosecution and abuse of process claims against plaintiff that arose from a previous arbitration. In so affirming, the court determined that the arbitration clause, which stated that it applied to “all controversies” between the parties “which may arise from any account for any cause whatsoever” was broad enough to encompass the tort claims. The court distinguished this language from language that limits application of the arbitration clause only to claims “arising out of” the agreement. This is a fairly traditional articulation of the difference between narrow and broad arbitration provisions. Morgan Keegan & Co. v. Grant, No. 11-56399 (9th Cir. Oct. 25, 2012).
This post written by Abigail Kortz.
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