Salvano v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.

647 N.E.2d 1298, 85 N.Y.2d 173, 623 N.Y.S.2d 790, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 524, 1995 N.Y. LEXIS 238
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 21, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 647 N.E.2d 1298 (Salvano v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salvano v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 647 N.E.2d 1298, 85 N.Y.2d 173, 623 N.Y.S.2d 790, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 524, 1995 N.Y. LEXIS 238 (N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

*177 OPINION OF THE COURT

Simons, J.

Petitioners Salvano and Coon were formerly employed as account executives in respondent Merrill Lynch’s Northbrook, Illinois, office. Petitioner Tate was similarly employed in *178 Louisville, Kentucky. On October 30, 1992, each abruptly resigned his position with Merrill Lynch and began working with Prudential Bache, one of Merrill Lynch’s competitors. On November 2, respondent Merrill Lynch brought two separate actions for damages and injunctive relief in the Federal courts of Illinois and Kentucky. On November 4 the Illinois court temporarily enjoined petitioners Salvano and Coon from soliciting or accepting business from their former Merrill Lynch customers and against using, disclosing or retaining copies of any Merrill Lynch records pending determination of the disputes by arbitrators. Petitioners filed a demand for arbitration before the New York Stock Exchange on November 5, 1992. The Kentucky court enjoined Tate on November 10.

On November 4 petitioners also moved in New York Supreme Court for an order compelling respondent to submit to expedited arbitration pursuant to article 75 of the CPLR On November 6, Supreme Court granted the petition, ordering the parties to proceed to expedited arbitration. It issued a further order on November 10, in response to petitioners’ motion, directing that the arbitration take place on November 12. The issue on this appeal is whether Supreme Court had the authority to order the parties to proceed absent any provision explicitly authorizing expedited arbitration in the parties’ agreements. We conclude that it did not.

I

When petitioners started working for respondent, each signed two documents: an Account Executive Trainee Agreement (the contract of employment) and the standard Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration (Form U-4). Form U-4 provides in paragraph 5 that any claim or controversy between the applicant and his firm will be arbitrated under the rules, constitutions or by-laws of the organizations in which the applicant is registered. The parties agree that the Constitution and Rules of the New York Stock Exchange govern their arbitration. They differ on whether the provisions of those documents allow a court to compel expedited arbitration.

When first ordered to proceed to expedited arbitration, respondent wrote Robert Clemente, then the Manager (and now the Director) of Arbitration at the NYSE requesting that the arbitration be carried out in strict compliance with the NYSE Rules. Those relevant to this matter require eight days’ notice of the arbitration, 20 days in which to answer the *179 claim, the opportunity to file and exchange pleadings and conduct discovery, and an opportunity to join third parties. The Rules also require that, after evaluating the acceptability of the arbitrators, a party may submit one peremptory challenge and unlimited challenges for cause to the members of the panel. Respondent asserted its right to exercise these provisions as well. Respondent was advised that it would not be permitted to exercise a peremptory challenge, because there was no provision for peremptory challenges "[u]nder the procedures for an expedited arbitration.” The NYSE Constitution and Rules, however, contain no provision for expedited arbitration. Indeed, in a later affidavit, Clemente admitted that the New York Stock Exchange is not empowered to expedite arbitration of a claim without the consent of both parties to the arbitration: expedited arbitration is permitted only if the Exchange is a party to the arbitration and then only pursuant to a court order.

After the parties agreed that petitioners’ claims for damages would be heard under the normal arbitration schedule, the arbitration of petitioners’ claims for injunctive relief went forward on November 12, as ordered, over respondent’s objections. 1 Although respondent executed all the consents required to effect the expedited arbitration, it made clear that it did so only to avoid being held in contempt of Supreme Court’s order. 2 The arbitrators subsequently entered an award "lifting the injunctions” against petitioners Salvano and Coon and the "freeze order” against petitioner Tate. Petitioners moved to confirm, and respondent cross-moved to vacate, the award. On January 8, 1993, Supreme Court confirmed the arbitrators’ award. The Appellate Division affirmed, concluding that Supreme Court had authority to order expedited arbitration pursuant to CPLR 7506 (b) and that the order was neither preempted by, nor inconsistent with, the provisions of the Constitution and Rules of the New York Stock Exchange or the Federal Arbitration Act (200 AD2d 431). We granted respondent leave to appeal.

*180 II

Petitioners maintain that the court’s order for expedited arbitration was warranted under both State and Federal statutes and the arbitration agreement.

Under settled law, the arbitration of disputes concerning employment in the securities industry and the enforceability of the arbitration clause embodied in petitioners’ U-4 Form applications are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) (see, Fletcher v Kidder, Peabody & Co., 81 NY2d 623, cert denied — US —, 114 S Ct 554; Singer v Jefferies & Co., 78 NY2d 76; Flanagan v Prudential-Bache Sec., 67 NY2d 500). If the parties’ arbitration agreement contains a choice of law clause providing that the law of a particular State will govern their arbitration, the parties’ choice will be given effect if to do so will not conflict with the policies underlying the FAA; otherwise, the FAA applies (see, Volt Information Sciences v Leland Stanford Jr. Univ., 489 US 468; Matter of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. v Luckie, 85 NY2d 193 [decided today]). 3 Volt makes clear, however, that only an explicit choice will displace the provisions of the FAA. Here, the parties’ membership in the New York Stock Exchange and their agreement to arbitrate according to its Constitution and Rules, even taken together, do not rise to the level of an explicit choice of New York State law to govern their arbitration. Accordingly, the provisions of the FAA, and not those of CPLR article 75, apply in this case.

*181 Preliminarily, it should be noted that even if article 75 applied, as the courts below believed, it does not provide a basis for Supreme Court’s order of expedited arbitration. CPLR 7506 (b) authorizes the court to direct the arbitrator, but not the parties, to proceed promptly with the arbitration. CPLR 7503 (a) authorizes the court to compel arbitration where one party is aggrieved by the failure of the other to arbitrate. But the arbitrators did not delay arbitration here and respondent did not object to arbitration of the parties’ dispute, or fail to participate in the arbitration; it merely objected to the expedited procedure.

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Bluebook (online)
647 N.E.2d 1298, 85 N.Y.2d 173, 623 N.Y.S.2d 790, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 524, 1995 N.Y. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salvano-v-merrill-lynch-pierce-fenner-smith-inc-ny-1995.