The Third District Court of Appeal Declines to Force Arbitration

McArdle Franco PLLC attorneys Xavier Franco and Michael Mullavey prevailed on the appeal of an interlocutory order denying a motion to compel the arbitration of the claims in litigation.  The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed, per curium, the trial court’s ruling in favor of McArdle Franco’s client, finding that the defendant had irreversibly waived arbitration by propounding discovery requests in the litigation.  The defendant argued that it should be afforded a right to compel arbitration pursuant to the terms of the parties’ exclusive distributor agreement since only 21 days had passed between the propounding of discovery and the motion to force the arbitration.  McArdle Franco argued that active participation in the discovery process causes an automatic waiver of the right to arbitrate, and that the waiver was “a sounded bell that could not be un-rung.”