“Delaware Superior Court enforces a party’s contractual right to unilaterally determine whether certain disputes fall within the purview of an arbitration clause”

Lexology has published this article by Alexandria Murphy, Brian Rostocki and Benjamin Chapple of Reed Smith, discussing the decision in Diamond Materials, LLC v. Tutor Perini Corp., C.A. No. N20C-05-162-MAA, mem. op. (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 30, 2021), in which the court enforced a contract provision that entitled “one party to the contract unilateral authority to determine whether certain claims fall within the purview of an arbitration clause,” thereby “preclud[ing] the court from determining the issue.” As the court explained, “[w]hile [plaintiff] might not like what the arbitration provision in the [Subcontracting Agreements] affords to [defendant], it cannot ignore it. ‘Delaware is a freedom of contract state, with a policy of enforcing the voluntary agreements of sophisticated parties in commerce.'”