Successful Defense Leads to Granting of Motion to Compel Arbitration for a Non-Signatory to Arbitration Agreement

Moss & Barnett successfully argued a motion to compel arbitration of an FDCPA claim brought against its clients:  a debt collector and debt owner.  We persuaded the court against the plaintiff’s argument that the defendants were not entitled to enforce the arbitration agreement because they were not signatories to the original contract between the creditor and the plaintiff.  Relying on ordinary principles of contract and agency and the doctrine of equitable estoppel, the court found that Moss & Barnett’s clients were entitled to enforce the arbitration clause as successors-in-interest and/or agents of the successors-in-interest.  The court also rejected the plaintiff’s arguments that the FDCPA dispute was not covered by the arbitration clause and that the clause was unconscionable.

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