KENNARD P. FOSTER, Magistrate Judge.
On February 25, 1999, the defendants moved the dismissal or stay of this Cause pursuant to the parties' agreement to arbitrate their disputes. Because the plaintiff failed to file a response, it has forfeited any legal or factual arguments it might have raised. Motions to stay proceedings to enforce arbitration provisions are non-dispositive pre-trial matters on which a magistrate judge is authorized to rule. Touton, S.A. v. M. V. Rizcun Trader, 30 F. Supp.2d 508 (E.D. Penn. 1998); Herko v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 978 F. Supp. 141, 142-43 n. 1 (W.D.N.Y. 1997); Herko v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 978 F. Supp. 149 (W.D.N.Y. 1997).
Such rulings have been reviewed by courts of appeals without comment on the magistrate judges' authority, although the issue was not raised. Wilson Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Minnotte Contracting Corp., 878 F.2d 167, 168 (6th Cir. 1989); Explo, Inc. v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 788 F.2d 1096, 1098 (5th Cir. 1986); Kershaw v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 734 F.2d 1327, 1328 (9th Cir. 1984).
The plaintiff is a business engaged in the logging, trucking, and sawmill business. Defendant Ponsse USA Corporation is engaged in the business of selling machines used in the logging industry. Following communications with defendant Hinsa, a Ponsse salesman, and defendant Mutanen, Ponsse's president, the plaintiff purchased a harvester machine and a forwarder machine from Ponsse. The machinery was defective and failed to perform as represented and warranted. The Complaint asserts counts of misrepresentation, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty for a particular purpose, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and breach of contract against the defendants.
For the purposes of this motion, the allegations of the Complaint are presumed true.
The parties' contract included the following provision:
ARBITRATION: Except the disputes regarding the nonpayment of any amount due hereunder to Seller or any of its affiliates, all disputes and claims relating to any provision hereof or relating to or arising out of the parties' relationship shall be settled by arbitration at the Office of the American Arbitration Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota in accordance with the United States Arbitration Act (
9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) and the Rules of the American Arbitration Association. All awards of the arbitrator shall be binding and non-appealable except as otherwise provided in the United States Arbitration Act. Judgment upon the award of the arbitrator may be enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
This provision was included as paragraph 16 of the "General Terms and Conditions of Sale" which were attached to the April 17, 1998 Sales Contract signed by Rebecca Peterson for the plaintiff and by defendant Russ Hinsa for defendant Ponsse, (Complaint, ¶ 16 and Exhibit A), and to the May 13, 1998 Sales Contract signed by Hinsa for Ponssee and forwarded to the plaintiff, (Complaint, ¶ 17 and Exhibit B).
When a court is satisfied that the parties to a federal suit have agreed in writing to arbitrate any issue, the Federal Arbitration Act requires the Court to "stay the trial of the action until such arbitration has been had in accordance with the terms of the agreement". 9 U.S.C. § 3. The plaintiff attached to its complaint the writings which it contends constitute the parties' contract and those writings and contract include the above agreement to arbitrate "all disputes and claims relating to any provision" of the parties' contract. I find that the parties agreed in writing to arbitrate the claims asserted by the plaintiff in its Complaint. Therefore, I conclude that this Cause must be stayed until the parties have completed the arbitration of these claims according to the terms of their agreement.
Further proceedings in this Cause are hereby STAYED pending completion of the parties' arbitration of the plaintiff's claims. The plaintiff shall initiate the arbitration process no later than 30 days from the date of this Entry or notify the Court within that time that it will not be pursuing arbitration. The parties shall, jointly or separately, advise the Court of the status of arbitration proceedings every month and shall, upon completion of arbitration, move to proceed forward in this Court or to formally dismiss this cause.