American Express Financial Advisors v. Thorley
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
147 F.3d 229, 230-232, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 13643 (1998)
- Written by David Bloom, JD
Facts
American Express Financial Advisors (American Express) (plaintiff) hired six financial planners (defendants) as independent contractors. The contracts prohibited the financial planners from revealing any confidential information obtained while working with American Express and from soliciting American Express’s clients for one year after leaving American Express. The contracts contained arbitration clauses that required all disputes arising from the contracts to be arbitrated through the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) but expressly gave American Express the right to seek an order from the court temporarily enjoining the financial planners from committing continued violations of the contracts while arbitration was pending. American Express submitted a claim for arbitration to the NASD, alleging that the financial planners violated the contracts. American Express simultaneously filed suit against the financial planners and motioned the district court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the financial planners from further solicitation of American Express’s clients while the underlying claim went to arbitration. The district court denied the motion, concluding that American Express should have asked the arbitrator for a preliminary injunction instead of wasting the court’s time. The district court further noted that the strong national policy embodied by the Federal Arbitration Act favoring arbitration was best served by deferring the motion to the arbitrator. American Express appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Calabresi, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.