5th Cir. Says Parties’ Intent to Arbitrate Overrides Nonexistent Forum

NEW ORLEANS — The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that parties to a subcontract containing an arbitration clause can be compelled to arbitrate in a forum that no longer exists because their “dominant purpose was to arbitrate generally,” which mandated that the district court compel arbitration if possible.

In a Jan. 27 opinion, the appellate panel concluded that even if the arbitration provision is a forum selection clause, it is not integral to the parties’ subcontract because the agreement evinced that “the parties’ primary intent was to arbitrate generally.”

In 2017, Baker Hughes Saudi Arabia Co. Ltd. …