In Thomas Zimmer Builders, LLC v. Roots (2017AP2037), the Court of Appeals District IV held that an arbitration clause was enforceable because the complaint challenged the contract as a whole and because a company’s employee may invoke an arbitration clause even if the employee is not a signatory party to the contract.

Kurt and Monika Roots entered into a Design Consultant Agreement with Udvari-Solner Design Co. The Rootses later challenged the contract on the basis that employee Mark Udvari-Solner misrepresented himself as an architect before they signed the agreement. Udvari-Solner moved to compel arbitration pursuant to the contract’s arbitration clause.

The appeals court reversed the circuit court’s denial of Udvari-Solner’s motion to compel arbitration because:

1. Federal and state cases have held that challenges to the validity of a contract as a whole must be arbitrated when the contract has an arbitration provision.
2. An established legal rule states that employees may compel arbitration under a contract between their employer and a third party, even if the employee is not named in the contract, if the employee is acting within the scope of their employment.