I.S. Joseph Co. v. Michigan Sugar Co‪.‬

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge. This case involves the question whether a party to a commercial arbitration agreement can be compelled to arbitrate with the assignee of the entity with which it first agreed to arbitrate. More specifically, we are called on to decide who -- the arbitrator or the court -- must determine the present validity and enforceability of the arbitration agreement. The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota compelled arbitration without ruling on the validity of the assignment. The Court held that any objections to the assignment should be decided by the arbitration panel. We now reverse, for the underlying dispute here goes to the existence of a contract to arbitrate, and therefore is a question of substantive arbitrability to be decided by the courts.1