2018-00229628-CU-WT

Alison Adkinson vs. Woodside Homes, Inc.

Nature of Proceeding: Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay the Action

Filed By: Sandberg, Katherine P.

The motion of Defendants Woodside Homes, Inc. and Woodside Homes of Northern California, L.P. (collectively “Defendants”) to compel arbitration is DENIED.

Defendants’ request that the court disregard the opposition as untimely is DENIED given the absence of prejudice. The opposition, however, does not impact the court’s analysis.

Plaintiff Alison Adkison (Plaintiff) filed this employment dispute in March 2018. Defendants contend that Adkison must arbitrate her legal claims against them. They have produced two written agreements to support their motion to arbitrate. Defendants, however, are not signatories to either agreement. The “Arbitration

Agreement” designates Adkison and non-party Woodside 05N, LP as the signatories. (See Sandberg Decl., Exh. 1.) The “Salesperson Employment Agreement” is between Adkison and Woodside Homes of Northern California, Inc. (Id., Exh. 3.) Although there are limited circumstances in which one other than a signatory may compel arbitration, (see Suh v. Superior Court (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1504, 1513), Defendants have not demonstrated that any such circumstances apply.

The fact that the two agreements submitted with the motion contain delegation clauses does not alter the outcome. Although parties to an arbitration agreement may delegate the issue of arbitrability to an arbitrator, the question whether the parties agreed to such a delegation is a threshold question for the court. (See Benaroya v. Willis (2018) 23 Cal.App.5th 462, 467-470.) As noted above, Defendants have not identified any arbitration agreement between themselves and Adkison. Consequently, the court cannot conclude that Adkison and Defendants agreed to delegate arbitrability or any other issue to an arbitrator.

Because Defendants did not meet their initial burden, the burden never shifted to Adkison to demonstrate a defense to arbitration. (See Molecular Analytical Systems v. Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc. (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 696, 705-706 [it is the moving party’s initial burden to demonstrate a valid agreement to arbitrate the claims in question].)

The court need not rule and does not rule on objections to evidence.

Disposition

The motion is denied.

The minute order is effective immediately. No formal order pursuant to CRC 3.1312 or further notice is required.