Summary: At the foreclosure hearing before the New Hanover County Clerk of Court, the Pughes filed an Election of Arbitration.  The Clerk of Court did not act on this, instead finding that the Substitute Trustee had meet the six statutory requirements to proceed with foreclosure.  The Pughes appealed to Superior Court, where the judge again found that the requirements for foreclosure had been met and declined to rule on the request for arbitration. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that both the Clerk of Court and, on appeal, the Superior Court had scope only

Summary: Ms.  Carson appealed the district court’s order compelling arbitration.  The Court of Appeals held that the first step in determining if a dispute is subject to arbitration is determining whether the parties agreed to arbitration.   Finding that Ms.  Carson "affirmatively checked the box indicating that she agreed" to arbitration, the court then turned to whether such arbitration requirement was unenforceable due to unconscionability.  As Ms.  Carson had willing applied for services from Lending Tree, had indicated that she had read