United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

General Atomic Co. v. Felter, 436 U.S. 493 (1978)

General Atomic Co. v. Felter

No. 77-1237

Decided May 30, 1978

436 U.S. 493

Syllabus

In General Atomic Co. v. Felter, 434 U. S. 12, it was held that a New Mexico state court, under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, lacked power to enjoin petitioner from filing and prosecuting in personam actions in federal court relating to the subject matter of the state suit or to interfere with petitioner's efforts to obtain arbitration in federal forums on the ground that petitioner is not entitled to arbitration or for any reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, the New Mexico court, on remand, issued orders staying federal arbitration proceedings demanded by petitioner on the ground, inter alia, that petitioner had waived any right to arbitration because its demand therefor was untimely.

Held: Under this Court's prior judgment, petitioner has an absolute right to present its claims to federal forums, and therefore its motion for leave to file a petition for writ of mandamus directing the New Mexico court to vacate its orders staying federal arbitration proceedings is granted because of that court's refusal or failure to comply with this Court's mandate.