Originally posted 2010-12-11 10:00:10.
We have discussed arbitration clauses at length here at Musings. From the judicious use of these clauses to help resolve disputes to waiver of rights under these clauses through inaction, arbitration clauses permeate the construction landscape. A recent case out of the Western District of Virginia Federal Court adds a new wrinkle to this analysis. In Protherapy Associates LLC v. AFS of Bastian, Inc et al, the Court considered an arbitration clause in a service agreement.
In this case, the Plaintiff provided therapy services to residents of nursing homes. It sued for breach of a contract that included a standard arbitration clause stating that all disputes relating to the contract are to be resolved through arbitration. Subsequently, the parties reached a settlement agreement through e-mail negotiation. The agreement, again in e-mail form, stated the amounts to be paid to the plaintiff by the defendants and on what schedule. The settlement e-mail also stated that any dispute relating to the non-solicitation provisions of the contract would be resolved in the Western District of Virginia Federal Court. However, this final e-mail did not provide for any particular jurisdictional requirements for payment disputes and explicitly left any unchanged portions of the original contract in full force.
The defendants brought a motion to compel arbitration under the original contract. The Court denied this motion relating to the non-solicitation claims and granted it as to the payment dispute. The Court reasoned that the parties specifically waived arbitration as to the non-solicitation provisions but specifically left arbitration in force regarding all other contractual claims.
While this case is not one relating to a construction contract, it provides some good lessons for construction professionals and the construction lawyers who advise them.
1. E-mails resulting in changes to a contract, even through settlement negotiations, can waive contractual provisions.
2. Choose your words in such e-mails carefully, you may end up in two different venues like the defendants in this case if you are not careful to either keep arbitration in force for all claims or for none.
3. The power in point 1 of this list, when used carefully, can assure that the parties to a contract end up in the venue that they desire when seeking to enforce a negotiated settlement.
In short, be careful when crafting a non-judicial settlement of a contractual dispute to avoid litigation over what the settlement means. It is expensive enough to litigate any breach of terms of a settlement without having a court tell you what those provisions entail.
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As always, I welcome your comments below. Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.
Very interesting case Chris.
The really interesting piece to me is using e-mails with no signed agreement to demonstrate a settlement agreement. Ultimately I agree with the judge – if the e-mails are enough to demonstrate an agreement, then their terms should stick.
That is a good case to share!
Thanks for checking in Tim. I agree with the judge also, especially in the age of texts and e-mails.
Concerning enforcement of email agreements, it always seems to shock otherwise sophisticated businesspeople to learn that their “casual” communications can change rights and obligations of the parties. Another plug to always run these things by your experienced attorney to review first.
I agree Melissa, e-mail almost makes it seem informal enough to make it a converation and not a written record
Email is great for just that reason, that there is a “paper” trail to the conversation. You’d think by now that people would get used to that fact. It’s interesting here that it seems like the parties tried to solve this problem themselves, and then reneged to the courts. What counts as a final signature on an email contract in a case like this?