Today’s segment of the Businessperson’s Federal Arbitration ACT FAQ Guide focuses on the nuts and bolts of applying to compel arbitration under Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act.
The last installment addressed the following questions:
- What Gateway Disputes do Sections 2, 3, and 4, Address, and How do they Address them?
- How does Section 3 Work in Practice?
After discussing Section 4 generally and dividing the statute into five parts, this segment addresses an FAQ relating to the first of those five parts: “Under Section 4, who May Petition what Court when and for what?” Future segments will address FAQs relating to the other four parts of Section 4.
Application to Compel Arbitration: Section 4 and its Component Parts
Section 4, which sometimes used in tandem with Section 3, but which is available as an independent remedy when a party simply refuses to arbitrate without attempting to litigate the allegedly arbitrable dispute, authorizes courts to compel parties to arbitrate the disputes they’ve promised to submit to arbitration.
Section 4 consists of 386 words jammed into a single paragraph and is thus a little daunting at first blush. It is easier to digest and follow if we divide it into subparagraphs or subsections, which we do below. The subsection letters and captions in bold are not part of the statute, but are added for ease of reference and clarity:
