Enforcing Agreements to Arbitrate
One party to the arbitration agreement may
initiate a court action over an arbitrable dispute. The other
party to the arbitration agreement must then either:
- agree to the court's authority to rule
on the controversy; or
- assert the party's right to arbitrate the
dispute under the arbitration agreement.
The assertion of the right to arbitrate the
dispute is an affirmative defense. It must be stated in the
answer. To enforce the right to arbitrate, the party must
then file a motion to stay the lawsuit in favor of arbitration.
If both parties to the agreement ignores the right to arbitrate,
the right is waived.
Both Ohio statutory law and public policy
favor and encourage dispute resolution through arbitration.
Ohio R.C. §2711.02; Kline v. Oak Ridge Builders, Inc.
(1995), 102 Ohio App. 3d 63, 65; Gibbons-Grable Co. v.
Gilbane Building Co. (1986), 34 Ohio App. 3d 170, 173.
Ohio R.C. §2711.02 provides:
If any action is brought upon any issue
referable to arbitration under an agreement in writing
for arbitration, the court in which the action is pending,
upon being satisfied that the issue involved in the action
is referable to arbitration under an agreement in writing
for arbitration, shall on application of one of the
parties stay the trial of the action until the arbitration
of the issue has been had in accordance with the agreement
. . ..
As one court has stated, "R.C. §2711.02
requires the trial court to stay an action brought
therein, upon application of one of the parties, when
it is satisfied that the issue involved in the action is referable
to arbitration under a written agreement between the parties
to arbitrate." Kline, 102 Ohio App. 3d at 65 (emphasis
added).
The determination of whether a controversy
is arbitrable under an arbitration provision of a contract
is a question of law for the court, not a question for the
jury. The court should decide the issue upon an examination
of the contract.
Ohio's Arbitration Act provides that a trial
court's denial of a party's motion to stay and refer to arbitration
is a final order subject to review on appeal. Ohio R.C. §2711.02.
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