Originally published in the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer Newsletter, Fall 2012, Vol. 5, No. 2, on October 29th, 2012.

The U.S. Supreme Court took time out from its momentous work deciding the fate of the health care law and Arizona’s immigration enforcement statute to issue one regular opinion and two per curiam opinions on arbitration during its 2011 term (commencing in October 2011 and extending until June 2012). All three of these opinions are discussed below.

A. Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood -

The Supreme Court’s sole regular opinion on arbitration this year was rendered in Compucredit v. Greenwood, 132 S. Ct. 665 (2012). In Compucredit, the Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit decision finding that statutory claims brought under the Credit Repair Organizations Act (“CROA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1679, et seq were non-arbitrable, finding that a no-waiver clause in CROA was not sufficiently specific to demonstrate an intent by Congress to make an exception to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) presumption in favor of honoring arbitration agreements.