McCreary v. Taylor Cadillac, Inc.

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 2562

Syllabus

Arbitration Agreement; Motion to Compel Arbitration; Scope of Arbitration Agreement; Nonsignatories. Ohio law generally favors arbitration as a means to increase the efficiency of dispute resolution. A party generally cannot be compelled to submit to arbitration unless that party has agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration. An arbitration agreement may be incorporated into a contract by reference. For the doctrine of incorporation by reference to apply, the contract must clearly indicate that the separate arbitration agreement is incorporated. Further, a party cannot be required to submit a claim to arbitration if that claim falls outside of the scope of the arbitration agreement. In determining the scope of the arbitration agreement, courts look to the language of the relevant contractual provisions. If an action over the claim could be maintained without reference to the contract at issue, then the claim may fall outside the scope of the arbitration agreement.