Grand Wireless, Inc. v. Verizon Wireless, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
748 F.3d 1 (2014)
Facts
Grand Wireless, Inc. (Grand) (plaintiff) and Verizon Wireless, Inc. (Verizon) (defendant) entered into a contract that required Grand to provide sales and other services to customers on behalf of Verizon. The contract contained an arbitration clause that required all disputes arising out of the contract to be resolved through arbitration. Erin McCahill (defendant) was an employee of Verizon. McCahill was not a party to and did not sign the contract. Grand filed suit against Verizon and McCahill in state court under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), alleging that McCahill wrongfully authorized a mailing to customers that contained false statements about Grand in furtherance of Verizon’s business and thereby damaged Grand’s business. After the case was moved from state court to the federal district court, Verizon and McCahill moved to compel arbitration. Grand opposed the motion, arguing that McCahill could not enforce the arbitration clause because McCahill did not sign the contract and because the arbitration clause did not apply to disputes between Grand and Verizon’s employees. The district court denied the motion. Verizon and McCahill appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ripple, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 710,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,600 briefs, keyed to 983 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.
