Williams & Connolly secured an important victory for CVS Health subsidiary Caremark LLC and others before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case concerning whether claims brought by pharmacies run by federally recognized tribes were subject to arbitration. On August 9, 2022, after oral argument by Sarah Harris, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order granting CVS Health subsidiary Caremark, LLC and others’ petition to compel arbitration of a dispute with the Chickasaw Nation and five pharmacies that the Nation owns and operates. The Ninth Circuit held that the parties had validly delegated to the arbitrator the authority to resolve threshold issues regarding the scope and enforceability of the arbitration provision, and rejected the Nation’s argument that tribal sovereign immunity precluded enforcement of that delegation provision.
The Williams & Connolly team representing the Companies also included associate Kimberly Broecker.
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