Where contracts have arbitration clauses, courts must treat the clause as a separate contract. Decided June 12, 1967 (argued March 16, 1967). Opinion of the Court: Abe Fortas → go there Dissenting: Black. Topic: Businesses/Corporations/Contracts. Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 U.S. 395 (1967), is a United States Supreme Court decision that established what has become known as the "separability principle" in contracts with arbitration clauses. Following an appellate court ruling a decade earlier, it reads the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to require that any challenges to the enforceability of such a contract first be heard by an arbitrator, not a court, unless the claim is that the clause itself is unenforceable. Wiki link