Amendments To Rules Regulating Florida Bar - 1-3.1(A) and Rules Judicial Administration - 2.065 (Legal Aid‪)‬

The issue presented in this non-final appeal is, in a case where a right to arbitration of a claim is protected by the United States Arbitration Act [USAA], 9 U.S.C. sections 1-16 (1991), whether it is for the court or the arbitrators to determine a defense of a statute of limitations. To provide a definitive answer to this question, we have decided on our own motion to hear this case en banc and thus resolve any possible conflict among the decisions of this court relating to the issue. Our decision today makes clear that -- in this kind of case -- it is the arbitrators who should determine this issue.