On October 2, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rendered its decision in Inetianbor v. CashCall, Inc. A copy of the slip opinion can be found here. Although this case did not involve a non-compete agreement, the Eleventh Circuit’s guidance regarding contractual arbitration provisions may have implications for those drafting and litigating non-competes.
The arbitration clause at issue in Inetianbor was a bit unusual (at least as to the specified forum), but the underlying dispute between the parties was not out of the ordinary. The plaintiff, Mr. Inetianbor, was a Florida resident who borrowed money from Western Sky Financial, LLC. The defendant CashCall, Inc. serviced this loan. Mr. Inetianbor sued the servicer in a Florida court, alleging, among other things, violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. After removing the case to a federal court, the servicer then moved to compel arbitration of the dispute pursuant to the terms of Mr. Inetianbor’s loan agreement with Western Sky. This loan agreement contained the following arbitration provision: “You agree that any Dispute … will be resolved by Arbitration, which shall be conducted by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Nation by an authorized representative ….”
After the trial court initially compelled arbitration in accordance with this provision, Mr. Inetianbor contacted the Tribe in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. In response, Mr. Inetianbor received a letter from a Tribal Judge stating that the Tribe “does not authorize Arbitration,” but after some back-and-forth, a Tribal Elder was eventually chosen to arbitrate Mr. Inetianbor’s dispute. However, at the preliminary arbitration hearing, the arbitrator explained that “this is a private business deal” and that “[t]he Tribe has nothing to do with any of this business.” When Mr. Inetianbor brought the arbitrator’s statements to the attention of the trial court in Florida, the court was persuaded to reconsider its previous orders compelling arbitration.
The trial court determined that it was not possible to conduct an arbitration in accordance with the parties’ agreement, because the arbitration was not being conducted by an “authorized representative” of the Tribe. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the trial court’s decision. The dispute between Mr. Inetianbor and his loan servicer will now be resolved through judicial proceedings, not through arbitration.
So what does this mean for non-compete agreements? It is probably fair to say that most practitioners have never encountered a non-compete agreement specifying resolution of disputes through arbitration conducted by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Nation. However, employment contracts sometimes contain both non-compete provisions and arbitration provisions. As an initial matter, such arbitration provisions may add additional steps to the process of obtaining injunctive relief from a court when an employer seeks to enforce its non-compete provisions. This said, when the arbitration provisions are enforceable, it is the arbitrator — and not a court — who will ultimately determine the scope and application of the non-compete provisions. The Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Inetianbor underscores the need to pay attention to the forum(s) specified for arbitration when drafting or litigating non-compete clauses subject to arbitration.
