Schumacher Homes of Circleville v. John and Carolyn Spencer

Justice KETCHUM:

In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has doled out several complicated decisions construing the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16. Read together, these decisions create an eye-glazing conceptual framework for interpreting contracts with arbitration clauses that is politely described as “a tad oversubtle'for sensible application.”1 The Supreme Court sees its arbitration decisions as a series of “clear instruetion[s].” Marmet Health Care Ctr., Inc. v. Brown, — U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 1201, 1203, 182 L.Ed.2d 42 (2012). But experience suggests that the rules derived…