Newport Beach
Newport Beach
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
San Diego
Walnut Creek
Phoenix
Reno
Denver
North San Diego
Dallas
(949)221-1000 (949)221-1001 20320 S.W. Birch Street Second Floor, Newport Beach CA 92660
(818)712-9800 (818)712-9900 21215 Burbank Blvd. Suite 500, Woodland Hills CA 91367
(702)258-6665 (702)258-6662 1160 N Town Center Dr Suite 250, Las Vegas NV 89144
(619)236-0048 (619)236-0047 501 West Broadway Suite 1700, San Diego CA 92101
(510)540-4881 (510)540-4889 2033 N. Main St. Suite 600, Walnut Creek, Ca 94596
(602)274-1204 (602)274-1205 2525 West Frye Rd Suite 200 Chandler, AZ 85224
(775)440-2389 (775) 440-2390 50 West Liberty Suite 1090, Reno NV 89501
(720) 779-2500 (303)256-6205 1999 Broadway, Suite 3250, Denver, Colorado 80202
(760)557-2940 (619)389-2993 760 Garden View Ct. Unit #220 Encinitas, CA 92024
(949) 221-1000 (949) 221-1001 1910 Pacific Avenue, Suite 2000 Dallas, Texas 75201

Arbitration Agreements: The Important Court Decision that Effects Your Business’s Operating Agreements

By: Jeremy Johnson & Sean Willet

At Bremer Whyte, our business litigation attorneys advise clients often on the pros, cons and important factors of navigating through the process of arbitration.  In June of this year, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District decided Rice v. Downs,[1] providing an important reminder of the need for careful wording of an arbitration provision in a contract if your intent is to compel all disputes be resolved by the arbitration process.

In this case, William Rice and Gary Downs entered into an agreement to jointly own a company. Downs also served as the company’s attorney and drafted the company’s operating agreement. Some years later, Downs and Rice’s relationship deteriorated and Rice subsequently sued Downs for a number of tort-related claims. The trial court decided the claims were to be decided by arbitration, citing the arbitration provision in the company’s operating agreement. Following arbitration and a confirmation by the trial court of the arbitrator’s decision, Rice appealed. The relevant issue on appeal was whether the claims fell within the purview of the arbitration provision, and whether the trial court correctly compelled the parties to arbitrate. This brings up the importance of having both solid formation agreements, as well as having an un-biased and experienced attorney drafting your documents.

The appellate court discussed at length the differences between ‘broad’ and ‘narrow’ arbitration provisions, and the types of claims that tend to fall within the gambit of each. ‘Broad’ clauses use language like “any claim arising from or related to this agreement”[2] or “arising in connection with this agreement,”[3] and generally extend to cover most tort and contract claims, so long as the claims are related to the relationship created by the agreement. “Narrow” clauses on the other hand use language like “any claim arising from or arising out of this agreement,”[4] exclude language like “relating to or in connection with this agreement,”[5] and generally do not cover many tort claims unless they “relat[e]to the interpretation and performance of the agreement.”[6]

Since the tort claims brought by Rice all related to duties that arose outside of the relationship created by the operating agreement, the Court decided the claims were not properly compelled to arbitration. The appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision to compel arbitration of the dispute, and found that the tort claims fell outside the scope of the ‘narrow’ arbitration provision in the operating agreement.

Many of our clients have standard arbitration wording in their form contracts.  While there is a good amount of deference to the arbitration process if the parties have contracted for the same, courts will still carefully review the contractual provision to determine if the subject in dispute was intended to be a part of the arbitration proceeding.

 

In light of this decision, we suggest all of your standard form agreements be revisited to ensure arbitration provisions are properly drafted ‘broadly’ or ‘narrowly’ depending on your intent.

[1] 247 Cal.App.4th 1213 (2016).

[2] Id. at 1224

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id. at 1225.
To read the complete article click HERE.

Leave a Reply