S-17-0178 Citizens of humanity, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and CM Laundrey, LLC, a California limited liability company (Appellants) v. Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Company, Inc., a British Virin Islands company
Douglas County District Court, Judge Shelly R. Stratman
Attorneys: Jonathan J. Papik and Andre R. Barry (Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather, LLP)(Appellants) --- David A. Blagg and Michael K. Huffer (Cassem, Tierney, Adams, Gotch & Douglas)
Civil: Arbitration clause
Proceedings below: The district court concluded the arbitration agreement contained an enforceable delegation clause and stayed Appellants’ action pending arbitration. Appellants filed a motion to bypass, which was granted by the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Issues: The district court erred 1) by not addressing or properly applying controlling
Nebraska Supreme Court precedent, specifically Speece v. Allied
Professionals Ins. Co., 289 Neb. 75, 853 N.W.2d 169 (2014) and Kremer v.
Rural Comm. Ins. Co., 280 Neb. 591, 788 N.W.2d 538 (2010), 2) by concluding, without analysis, that the enforceability of arbitration agreements in this case was governed by the
Federal Arbitration Act, rather than Nebraska state law, 3) by finding that the document entitled Reinsurance Participation Agreement had an enforceable agreement delegating to an arbitrator the authority to decide whether disputes arising under the Reinsurance Participation Agreement are subject to arbitration when any such agreement would be unenforceable under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-2602.01(f)(4), 4) by not finding that the agreement to arbitrate substantive disputes arising under the Reinsurance Participation Agreement is unenforceable under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-2602.01(f)(4), and 5) in entering a stay of the case pending arbitration because the district court stayed the case based on erroneous legal conclusions.