Supreme Court of Missouri / Oct 16, 2018
A-1 Premium Acceptance, Inc., Appellant, vs. Meeka Hunter, Respondent.
A-1 Premium Acceptance, Inc. appealed the circuit court's denial of its application to compel arbitration of Meeka Hunter's counterclaim. Hunter's loan agreements with A-1 specified that disputes "shall be resolved by binding arbitration by the National Arbitration Forum" (NAF), which subsequently ceased providing consumer arbitration services. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the plain language of the agreement indicated the parties intended to arbitrate only before NAF, and thus, Section 5 of the Federal Arbitration Act did not authorize the court to appoint a substitute arbitrator.