Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

When the “battle of the forms” involves conflicting arbitration clauses, parties and arbitrators are confronted with seemingly unsolvable problems. In this situation, the inevitable question arises: Did the parties manifest a mutual intent to arbitrate?

The “battle of the forms” refers to disputes involving conflicting provisions in the offer and acceptance, or in succeeding iterations of an agreement between the parties. The conflict that this article is concerned with is conflicting arbitration provisions. At first sight, this scenario seems surreal. Why would parties incorporate conflicting arbitration clauses into their contract? Perhaps it is because in everyday business, parties send out contract forms without ever reading the boilerplate terms.