11-17-09 EPIX HOLDINGS CORPORATION V. MARSH & MCLENNAN COMPANIES, INC., ET AL.
A-3059-08T3
We reverse the Law Division's denial of defendants' motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff's anti-trust and related common law claims in a pending lawsuit, holding:
1. under principles of equitable estoppel, a non-signatory may enforce an arbitration clause in a contract signed by a subsidiary where the issues to be litigated are intertwined with the agreement containing the arbitration clause;
2. a clause that provides for arbitration of any dispute "arising out of" is broad enough to encompass claims going to the formation of the underlying contract and hence extends to the price-fixing and related common law claims in this case;
3. unlike employment claims alleging violations of the Law Against Discrimination, the Legislature did not intend statutory anti-trust and restraint of trade claims to be non-arbitrable; and
4. the fact that arbitration will not conclude the entire litigation in this case (as claims will remain pending in the Law Division against other co-defendants) is not a bar to the enforcement of an arbitration clause since piecemeal resolution is allowed when necessary to give effect to an arbitration agreement.
Assistant Editor: Umair Hussain
