City of Meridian, Miss. v. Algernon Blair, Inc., 83-4007

• Decision Date: 22 December 1983
• Docket Number: No. 83-4007,83-4007
• Citation: 721 F.2d 525
• Parties: The CITY OF MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, A Municipal Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALGERNON BLAIR, INC., A Corporation, and Johnson Controls, Inc., A Corporation, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 525

721 F.2d 525

The CITY OF MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, A Municipal Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALGERNON BLAIR, INC., A Corporation, and Johnson Controls, Inc., A Corporation, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 83-4007.

United States Court of Appeals,

Fifth Circuit.

Dec. 22, 1983.

Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, E. Mabry Rogers, Braxton Schell, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for defendants-appellants.

Williams, Gunn & Crenshaw, William J. Gunn, Meridian, Miss., Phillips & Mozley, George C. Reid, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before GARZA, WILLIAMS and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.

JERRE S. WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from a preliminary injunction staying a demand for the arbitration of a contract dispute between the parties. Appellant, Algernon Blair, Inc., is the general contractor hired by appellee, the City of Meridian, Mississippi, to construct a wastewater treatment plant. The contract between the parties contained a provision that disputes arising thereunder would be resolved by arbitration. Upon the City's suit asking for declaratory and injunctive relief from a demand for arbitration by Blair, the district court granted an injunction on the ground that the particular dispute was not covered by the contract requirement. We reverse and direct that a stay pending arbitration of the dispute be entered.

Under the contract between the parties, the contractor, Blair, was required to subcontract the Instrumentation, Control and Monitoring System (ICMS) to a "qualified ICMS supplier." The contract provided: "The many references made herein to work requirements and responsibilities of the ICM supplier shall only mean that responsibilities shall pass through the ICM supplier but in the final analysis shall rest with the contractor." Blair subcontracted the ICMS work to Johnson Controls.

During the course of the work on the plant, Johnson claimed that the City had expanded the scope of its work requirements beyond those set out in the original specifications. Johnson filed a request for a change order to its contract and claimed an additional $105,787 to compensate for the added labor and materials expended. Blair claimed its usual markup for overhead and administrative expenses and submitted a request for $128,002.27 to the City for payment. The City refused to pay this change order request. Blair then filed a demand for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association against the City "for the use and benefit of Johnson." The City obtained a temporary restraining order in state court, enjoining Blair from pursuing its arbitration demand on the ground the claim was Johnson's and not Blair's. Blair removed the case to federal court and moved to stay litigation pending arbitration. The City moved to stay arbitration pending litigation. The district judge entered a preliminary injunction staying the arbitration. Blair and Johnson appeal. The City moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. A panel of this Court ordered the City's motion to dismiss carried with the case.

I. Appealable Order

Before addressing the arbitrability issue, we first respond to the City's motion to dismiss the appeal as not falling within the jurisdictional grant of authority under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1) authorizing appeal of interlocutory injunctive orders. The City supports its motion by reference to decisions in the Second Circuit which hold that orders staying arbitration pending the outcome of litigation do not fall within the scope of the statutory requirement. See AAACON Auto Transport, Inc. v. Ninfo, 490 F.2d 83 (2d Cir.1974); Diematic Mfg. Corp. v. Packaging Industries, Inc., 516 F.2d 975 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 913, 96 S.Ct. 217, 46 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). In the Fifth Circuit, however, the law on this point has already been decisively established to the contrary. In Texaco, Inc. v. American Trading Transportation Co., 644 F.2d 1152 (5th Cir.1981), this Court noted the lack of uniformity among the circuits but nevertheless firmly held that "an order granting a stay of arbitration pending outcome of litigation is an appealable interlocutory order under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(a)(1)." We follow this established law. The City's motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.

II. Injunction

The decision to grant or deny a preliminary injunction is discretionary with the trial court and may be reversed on appeal only by a showing of abuse of discretion. See Doran v. Salem Inn, 422 U.S. 922, 95 S.Ct. 2561, 2568, 45 L.Ed.2d 648 (1975); Wilson v. Thompson, 593 F.2d 1375, 1384 (5th Cir.1979). The four prerequisites for granting a preliminary injunction were set out by this Court in Canal Authority of the State of Florida v. Callaway, 489 F.2d 567, 572 (5th Cir.1974). In order to secure an injunction, the movant must show:

(1) [A] substantial likelihood that plaintiff will prevail on the merits, (2) a substantial threat that plaintiff will suffer irreparable injury if the injunction is not granted, (3) that the threatened injury to plaintiff outweighs the threatened harm the injunction may do to defendant, and (4) that granting the preliminary injunction will not disserve the public interest.

The district court in the present case concluded that the City had carried the burden of proof with respect to these four factors. The predominant factor in the district court's decision was its prediction that the City would prevail on the merits. In order to prevail on the merits, however, the City had to show that Blair's claim was not arbitrable. We find that the claim is arbitrable, and for this reason, reverse the injunction below.

III. Arbitrability

Both parties agree that the disputed contract involves interstate commerce and thus falls within the meaning of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. Secs. 1 et seq. ¹ The Act "is a congressional declaration of a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements..." Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 927, 941, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983). Whenever the scope of an arbitration clause is in question, the court should construe the clause in favor of arbitration. ² United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1353, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960). "[T]he courts of appeals have ... consistently concluded that questions of arbitrability must be addressed with a healthy regard for the federal policy favoring arbitration.... The Arbitration Act establishes that, as a matter of federal law, any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration, whether the problem at hand is the construction of the contract language itself or an allegation of waiver, delay or a like defense to arbitrability." Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, supra, 103 S.Ct. at 941-42.

In addition to establishing a strong presumption in favor of arbitration, the Act also limits the role of the court in determining whether an issue is arbitrable. The court's sole function is to determine whether the claim is referable to arbitration. Once that determination is made, the court may not delve further into the dispute. ³ "The courts ... have no business weighing the merits of the grievance, considering whether there is equity in a particular claim, or determining whether there is particular language in the written instrument which will support the claim." United Steelworkers of America v. American Manufacturing Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 1346, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960). Blair is making a claim. Whether the claim is valid or not is for the arbitrator to decide.

The arbitration clause in the Blair/City of Meridian contract read as follows:

All claims, disputes and other matters in question arising out of, or relating to, the CONTRACT DOCUMENTS or the breach thereof, except for claims which have been waived by the making and acceptance of final payment as provided by Section 20, shall be decided by arbitration in accordance with the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The decision to arbitrate shall be specifically enforceable under the prevailing arbitration...