Any controversy arising out of or relating to any of my accounts. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without giving effect to the choice of law or conflict of laws provision thereof.

In the early 1980s, Critical Health signed a client agreement that provided: This case concerns the interpretation of a choice of forum clause in an agreement between Critical Health and Shearson Lehman Hutton (Smith Barney is the successor to these accounts). ' Because the parties have nowhere mentioned the AAA in their agreement, we hold that arbitration may proceed only before one of the specified fora. Smith Barney seeks to enjoin the AAA proceedings because a customer agreement between the parties provides that controversies shall be 'settled by arbitration, in accordance with the rules then in effect of the. Chief Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Motz and Judge Spencer joined.Ĭritical Health initiated arbitration proceedings against Smith Barney before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Spencer, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation. Sarda, Wallace, Creech & Sarda, L.L.P., Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees.īefore Wilkinson, Chief Judge, Motz, Circuit Judge, and James R. Miller, Bedzow, Korn, Brown, Miller & Zemel, P.A., Aventura, Florida Peter J. Isley, Boyce & Isley, P.A., Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellants. Baughan, Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs, Atlanta, Georgia Eugene Boyce, Philip R. Teri Louise DiGiulian, Bedzow, Korn, Brown, Miller & Zemel, P.A., Aventura, Florida, for Appellees. Russell, Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.

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