Judge Refers Arbitrability Issue to Arbitrators in Life Settlement Case

NEW YORK - Under the Federal Arbitration Act, arbitrators, not the court, should determine the scope and validity of an arbitration agreement in a contingency cost agreement that insured a life settlement company, a New York state judge has ruled. Life Receivables Trust v. Goshawk Syndicate 102 at Lloyd's, No. 601244/08 (N.Y. Sup., N.Y. Co.).

"Where, as here, the parties explicitly incorporate rules that empower an arbitrator to decide issues of arbitrability, that incorporation constitutes clear and unmistakable evidence that arbitrability is to be decided by the arbitrators," wrote Judge Charles E. Ramos of the New York County Supreme Court …