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33 St. Louis U. L.J. 495 (1988-1989)
Compulsory Consolidation of Commercial Arbitration Disputes

handle is hein.journals/stlulj33 and id is 505 raw text is: COMMENT COMPULSORY CONSOLIDATION OF COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION DISPUTES I. INTRODUCTION Unlike traditional arbitration, multiparty arbitration involves more than two parties.1 The parties involved in a multiparty arbitration pro- ceeding are contractually related in one of two ways.' In the most sim- ple arrangement, the parties are linked by a single multiparty con- tract.3 The contract may embody the relevant arbitration agreement,' or the parties may sign a multiparty arbitration agreement separate from the main contract.5 Whatever the form chosen, the signatory par- ties have expressly agreed to submit all disputes arising under the con- tract to a multiparty arbitration proceeding. In the second arrangement, a third party, not an original dispu- tant, is brought into an arbitration proceeding on the basis of the third party's privity of contract with one of the other two parties.6 For exam- ple, an owner contracts with a contractor. The contractor in turn con- tracts with a subcontractor. Both contracts include a clause stating that all disputes under the contract will be resolved by arbitration. When a 1. Arbitration is a private process in which disputing parties voluntarily submit their claims to one or more third parties for resolution. See M. DOMKE, DoMKE ON COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION § 1.01 (G. Wilner rev. ed. 1984). Multiparty arbitration occurs in a number of diverse commercial situations. Some examples are sales con- tracts, investment contracts, and construction contracts. See Devitt, Multiparty Con- troversies in International Construction Arbitrations, 17 INT'L LAW. 669, 669 (1983). Multiparty arbitration is also common in ship charter arrangements. See Stipanowich, Arbitration and the Multiparty Dispute: The Search for Workable Solutions, 72 IOWA L. REV. 473, 481 (1987). 2. See Hascher, Consolidation of Arbitration by American Courts: Fostering or Hampering International Commercial Arbitration?, 1 J. INT'L ARB. 127, 127 (1984). 3. Id. 4. id. 5. See Bartels, Multiparty Arbitration Clauses, J. INT'L ARB., June 1985, at 61, 61. 6. Hascher, supra note 2, at 127.