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The Rise In Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Revisiting Hall Street Associates, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Journal Articles

When the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hall Street Associates,LLC v. Mattel, Inc., commentators expected the Court to resolve the split among the federal circuits regarding the validity and enforceability of 'opt-in' agreements.Since the late 1990s, these agreements had become a means through which contracting parties could obtain enhanced judicial supervision of arbitral awards by providing for judicial review of the merits of arbitrator rulings. While commentators got a resolution to the split, they received a great deal more than they had been promised.

Stylistic opacity made the opinion in Hall Street somewhat inaccessible. In fact, as …