Thirty-Nine Page Slip Opinion Hinges On Issue Of Waiver.
The Court of Appeal addresses a variety of issues in the context of a complicated procedural history in Desert Regional Medical Center v. Leah Miller and Desert Regional Medical Center v. Lynn Fontana, E076058 and E076069 (4/2 1/6/23) (Codrington, Ramirez, Raphael).
The procedural history was complicated by the overlapping pendency of a collective bargaining grievance procedure and the lawsuits brought by individual employees, who were employees at the Desert Regional Medical Center (DRMC). Did the individual actions need to be stayed while the union procedure was exhausted? Did the arbitrability of these cases need to be decided by the court or the arbitrator? Did the Federal Arbitration Act or the California Arbitration Act apply? Did the Labor Commissioner have jurisdiction to hear claims brought by the employees, or did the claims need to be arbitrated? Were the employees estopped from arguing that the employer waived the right to arbitrate? Was prejudice necessary to find a waiver of the right to arbitrate? Interesting questions, but in the end the outcome hinged on whether the employer waived the right to arbitrate.
In the end, the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's order denying a motion to arbitrate, agreeing that the employer waived its right to arbitrate. There was an issue as to how long the employer had delayed bringing a motion to arbitrate. That delay was at least a year, possibly up to four years. The court concluded that even during a one year delay, the employer acted inconsistently with asserting a right to arbitrate by engaging in further litigation procedure.
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