Arbitration Agreement Unenforceable for Lack of Available Forum, 11th Cir. Affirms

ATLANTA — An arbitration agreement is unenforceable because it provides no available forum for an arbitrator to decide threshold issues of arbitrability, a federal appeals court has held in upholding the denial of a motion to compel arbitration of a dispute involving a payday loan agreement.

The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that the agreement’s “choice of arbitrator” clause does not nullify the requirement that the agreement’s express requirement that the arbitrator be a representative of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

In 2013, Jessica Parm entered into an online loan agreement with Western Sky Financial LLC, a South …