January 16, 1999 |

Appellate, Arbitration

Our client moved the court for arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement which specifically provided that there would be no discovery. The court ordered our client to respond to discovery which had been propounded by the plaintiff, even though we pointed out that we were barred from propounding discovery because it could be construed as a waiver of our right to arbitrate. We then filed a request with the 5th District Court of Appeals in Texas. The Court of Appeal first issued an emergency stay of discovery and subsequently issued a writ reversing the denial of arbitration.