California Court Affirms Sanctions For SF Firm in Arbitration Row
Law360, New York (by Kali Hays) — A California appeals court on Monday handed a victory to a property owner being sued by a partner in a Fresno mall over clean-up costs, after agreeing with a trial court that arbitrating a discovery dispute was not necessary and sanctions against San Francisco’s Dimitriou & Associates PC were deserved.
The court went on to agree that Vallarta was not required to arbitrate any of its discovery-related complaints as Vlahopouliotis had argued, because although a settlement of the central claims in the maintenance dispute already was being arbitrated by joint agreement, the discovery issues were not a direct result of that arbitration.
“The parties specifically agreed to refer to arbitration only the claims set forth in the current pleadings in this action,” the appellate court said in a Monday opinion. “The discovery disputes in this case did not arise out of the arbitration. Thus, they were not required to be adjudicated in that forum.”
Vallarta Properties is represented by John G. Michael and Diane E. Coderniz of Baker Manock & Jensen PC and Gail B. Price of Bronwen Price APC.