I am celebrating five years of blogging by publishing one “listicle” per day this week.  Yesterday, the topic was the five biggest surprises in arbitration law.  Today, it is the five states where I would not want to argue in favor of arbitration — either compelling arbitration or confirming an award.  In other words, these are the five states I view as most hostile to the case law that SCOTUS has developed under the Federal Arbitration Act.

By the way, don’t think this was an easy list to put together.  In the first eight months of 2016 alone, I have blogged askance at arbitration decisions from the highest courts of Arkansas, North Dakota, South Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, West Virginia, Kentucky, Montana and Hawaii.  And I have declined to blog about plenty of others.  (Even I find some arbitration decisions just not that interesting.)   But, after much deliberation, here are the top five, with links to posts about recent opinions that helped earn the states a spot on the list.

The Five States Most Hostile To Arbitration

  1. Kentucky
  2. West Virginia
  3. New Jersey
  4. Hawaii
  5. Montana

(You expected to see California?  Sorry, it’s had a change of heart.)

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s listicle!