Howard Electrical and Mechanical Company, Inc., a Colorado Corporation v. Frank Briscoe Company, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation

A construction subcontractor filed a diversity action in the District of Nevada against a New Jersey-based general contractor for work and materials supplied. The district court granted the subcontractor’s request for an order compelling arbitration, and denied the contractor’s request to transfer the action to the District of New Jersey. The contractor appeals both decisions. The subcontractor asserts that this court lacks jurisdiction to hear the appeal. We hold that we have jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the arbitration order but not the appeal from the denial of transfer. We affirm the arbitration order.

A. FACTS

In March 1977, the Frank Briscoe Co. (“Briscoe”) and the Clark County Sanitation District (“Owner”) entered into a contract for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. Briscoe, as the general contractor for the project, executed a statutory bond to assure the payment of claims for labor and materials used in the construction. See Nev.Rev.Stat. § 339.015 et seq.

Briscoe then entered into a subcontract with the Howard Electrical and Mechanical Co. (“Howard”) to perform certain electrical and instrumentation work. The subcontract contained a number of…