Majority.pdf

Americo Life, Inc. and other insurance companies (collectively Americo) sold insurance companies to Robert Myer and Strider Marketing Group, Inc. (collectively Myer) in 1998, with an up-front payment and a "trailer agreement" for additional payments based on future performance. The trailer agreement included an arbitration clause with terms for selecting three arbitrators. When disputes arose, Americo invoked arbitration in 2005, and Myer alleged that Americo's chosen arbitrator was partial, leading to his disqualification by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The arbitration proceeding resulted in a $26 million award in Myer's favor. The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals' decision, holding that the arbitration agreement was unambiguous and that the arbitrators must be selected according to the method specified in the agreement, without adding requirements beyond those agreed upon by the parties. The court found that "independent" and "impartial" have distinct meanings in the arbitration context, and that the AAA rules requiring impartiality did not apply as they were not part of the original agreement.