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In General Atomic Co. v. Felter, 434 U.S. 12 , it was held that a New Mexico state court under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution lacked power to enjoin petitioner from filing and prosecuting in personam actions in federal court relating to the subject matter of the state suit or to interfere with petitioner's efforts to obtain arbitration in federal forums on the ground that petitioner is not entitled to arbitration or for any reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, the New Mexico court, on remand, issued orders staying federal arbitration proceedings demanded by petitioner on the ground, inter alia, that petitioner had waived any right to arbitration because its demand therefore was untimely. Held: Under this Court's prior judgment, petitioner has an absolute right to present its claims to federal forums, and therefore its motion for leave to file a petition for writ of mandamus directing the New Mexico court to vacate its orders staying federal arbitration proceedings is granted because of that court's refusal or failure to comply with this Court's mandate.
PER CURIAM.
Petitioner has filed a motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of mandamus and requests that a writ of mandamus issue to the District Court for the First Judicial District, Santa Fe County, N. M., directing the court to vacate two orders on the ground that they violated this Court's mandate in General Atomic Co. v. Felter, 434 U.S. 12 (1977).
In that opinion, we held that under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution the Santa Fe court lacked power to enjoin the General Atomic Co. (GAC) from filing and prosecuting in personam actions against the United Nuclear Corp. (UNC) in federal court. Upon remand, the Santa Fe court modified its injunction "to exclude from its terms and conditions all in personam actions in Federal Courts and all other matters mandated to be excluded from the operation of said preliminary injunction by the opinion of [436 U.S. 493, 494] the United States Supreme Court, dated October 31, 1977." Shortly thereafter, GAC filed a demand for arbitration with UNC of issues growing out of the 1973 uranium supply agreement around which the litigation between the parties revolves. This demand, filed with the American Arbitration Association, relied upon the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 1 et seq. (1976 ed.), and the arbitration clause of the 1973 agreement. GAC also filed demands for arbitration against UNC in the federal arbitration proceedings involving Duke Power Co. (Duke) and moved for permission to file a cross-claim against UNC in the arbitration proceedings involving Commonwealth Edison Co. (Commonwealth). Finally, GAC requested the Santa Fe court to stay its own trial proceedings with respect to issues subject to these arbitration demands. UNC, in addition to opposing this motion, also asked the court to stay the arbitration proceedings.
On December 16, 1977, the Santa Fe court issued a decision in which it concluded that GAC had waived any right to arbitration with UNC which it might have had because it failed to demand arbitration in a timely manner and that neither the Duke nor Commonwealth agreements gave GAC any right to demand arbitration with UNC. On the basis of these conclusions, Judge Felter filed the following order staying the arbitration proceedings:
During the course of our opinion in General Atomic Co., we specifically addressed the restrictions placed by the Santa Fe court's previous injunction upon GAC's attempt to assert what it believed to be federally guaranteed arbitration rights in other forums:
As was recently reaffirmed in Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp., 434 U.S. 425 (1978), if a lower court "mistakes or misconstrues the decree of this Court, and does not give full effect to the mandate, its action may be controlled . . . by a writ of mandamus to execute the mandate of this Court." In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U.S. 247, 255 (1895). A litigant who, like GAC, has obtained judgment in this Court after a lengthy process of litigation, involving several layers of courts, should not be required to go through that entire process again to obtain execution of the judgment of this Court. In light of the prior proceedings in this matter, it is inconceivable that upon remand from this Court the Santa Fe court was free to again impede GAC's attempt to assert its arbitration claims in federal forums. Because the Santa Fe court has refused or failed to comply with the judgment of this Court, petitioner's motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of mandamus is granted. Assuming as we do that the Santa Fe court will now conform to our previous judgment by promptly vacating or modifying its order of December 16, 1977, to the extent that it places any restriction whatsoever upon GAC's exercise [436 U.S. 493, 498] of its right to litigate arbitration claims in federal forums, we do not at present issue a formal writ of mandamus. 2 See Bucolo v. Adkins, 424 U.S. 641 (1976); Deen v. Hickman, 358 U.S. 57 (1958).
[ Footnote 2 ] We do not read the December 27, 1977, order as restricting GAC from pursuing its arbitration claims in other forums. Consequently there is no occasion to disturb it. [436 U.S. 493, 499]
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Citation: 436 U.S. 493
Docket No: No. 77-1237
Decided: May 30, 1978
Court: United States Supreme Court
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