Stephen Evans, doing business as Roof n' Box, Inc. ("RNB"), had a contract with Building Materials Corp. of America, ("BMCA") to promote RNB's "Roof N Box" product, a three-dimensional roofing model, to building-construction contractors affiliated with BMCA. The contract contained an arbitration provision. BMCA validly terminated the contract about a year after inception. RNB later sued BMCA, arguing that, post-termination, BMCA appropriated RNB's intellectual property. BMCA moved to compel arbitration, citing the parties' previous contract. A federal district court in Virginia denied the motion to compel arbitration, finding that the dispute did "arise from" the parties' previous contract, and/or was beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement. BMCA appealed, but the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that the "wholly groundless" standard governing when courts may decide issues of arbitrability applied, thus allowing the district court to decide arbitrability, which it did, in favor of allowing the lawsuit to proceed. Evans v. Building Materials Corp. of America, No. 2016-2427 (Fed. Cir. June 5, 2017)
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