Second District, Division 2, Rejects Appellants’ “Tortured” Reading Of Arbitration Provision And Affirms Order Denying Motion To Compel Arbitration.
Plaintiffs, investors in an independent bookstore, refused the request of defendants, the bookstore and its prior owner, to arbitrate a business dispute. The key language in the arbitration provision read: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, no arbitrator shall have the power to render equitable relief of any kind, and requests for such relief shall be referred to a court of competent jurisdiction.” The trial court denied defendants’ motion to compel arbitration, finding that plaintiffs’ equitable claims – the sole remaining claims at issue – were excluded from arbitration by the language in the arbitration provision. Appellants advanced a rather creative reading of the arbitration provision, distinguishing between the arbitrator’s ability to try any action and the court’s ability to grant equitable relief. Bachrach v. Compagno, Case No. B252454 (2/1 Jan. 6, 2015) (Johnson, Chaney, Bendix) (unpublished).
Appellants argued that under the clear language of the arbitration provision, any action to enforce or interpret the agreement had to be arbitrated, and that once the substantive issues were resolved, a party could turn to the court to obtain equitable relief. The Court of Appeal, however, rejected “a tortured conclusion that the trial court has the power only to perform the ministerial act of rubber-stamping an arbitrator’s conclusive ruling.”
Affirmed.
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