“Third Circuit Rules that Courts – Not Arbitrators – Decide the Threshold Question of the Existence of an Agreement to Arbitrate where the Validity of the Underlying Agreement is in Doubt”

“On September 14, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously ruled in MZM Construction Co. Inc. v. New Jersey Building Laborers’ Statewide Benefit Funds, Nos. 18-3791 & 19-3102, (3d Cir. Sept. 8, 2020) that judges – not arbitrators – decide the gateway question of arbitrability if one party disputes having ever entered into the agreement containing the relevant arbitration clause, even where that clause contains language purporting to delegate questions of arbitrability to the arbitrator.”

This is the beginning sentence to an article by James Berger, Erin Collins and Charlene Sun of King & Spalding, found here courtesy of JD Supra.