Local 36 Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Assoc. v. Whitney, No. 11-1781 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseLocal 36 obtained an arbitration award against Whitney d/b/a Whitney Industrial, a non-signatory to any collective bargaining agreement, under an alter-ego theory. Whitney appealed the district court's order enforcing the arbitration award. The court held that a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement need not participate in the arbitration while expressly reserving jurisdictional questions, file a preemptive declaratory judgment action, notify the arbitrator of its refusal to participate, or timely initiate a court action to vacate the arbitrator's award in order to have "the question of whether the parties agreed to arbitrate . . . decided by the court, not the arbitrator." Accordingly, the court agreed with Whitney that the joint adjustment board had no authority to determine whether his new company was the alter ego of Whitney Mechanical, and thus, bound by the collective bargaining agreement. Accordingly, the court vacated the judgment and remanded.
Court Description: Civil Case - arbitration. A non-signatory to an arbitration agreement need not participate in the arbitration while reserving jurisdictional questions, file a preemptive declaratory judgment action, notify the arbitrator of its refusal to participate, or timely initiate a court action to vacate the arbitrator's award in order to have the question whether the parties agreed to arbitrate decided by the court. District court's adverse summary judgment as to Whitney, doing business as Whitney Industrial is vacated and remanded to determine in the first instance whether Whitney d/b/a Whitney Industrial is the alter ego of Whitney Mechanical.
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