Employer Did Not Waive Right To Compel Arbitration By Its Earlier Response To Informal Request
Ocean View Hotel Corporation and Thomas Cox executed an employment agreement containing a mandatory arbitration clause. When a dispute arose during the course of employment, Cox wrote a letter to Ocean View requesting arbitration, but Ocean View responded by telling Cox that it did not consider his claim ripe for arbitration. Following termination of his employment, Cox filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Hawai‘i. At that point, Ocean View decided that it wanted to arbitrate Cox's claim. After removing the action to federal court, Ocean View moved to compel arbitration. The district court denied its motion to compel arbitration and granted Cox's motion for partial summary judgment on the ground that Ocean View previously breached its agreement and waived its right to arbitrate disputes with Cox.
On appeal, the 9th Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in granting partial summary judgment in favor of Cox based on his breach-of-agreement theory, because Cox did not properly initiate arbitration under the terms of his employment agreement.
Cox v. Ocean View Hotel Corp.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii.