You have been sued in Florida state court. Your agreement with the plaintiff contains an arbitration provision that may apply to the particular type of claim that plaintiff has brought against you. You may want to ask the court to compel arbitration, but you are concerned that by doing so you may be waiving certain challenges to the lawsuit if the court declines to compel arbitration. On the other hand, by raising those challenges first, you worry about the risk of waiving your right to compel arbitration.
A recent ruling in a Florida court of appeal resolved this very issue regarding mandatory arbitration provisions, and the steps plaintiffs must take to ensure they do not waive their right to arbitration in defending a lawsuit.
We recently wrote an article for the Daily Business Review discussing the facts and significance of the case. Read more here.