Cases—Arbitration Clauses—Not compelled where minority of parties had signed agreements

Twenty residents of a trailer park who had signed arbitration agreements were not required to arbitrate because they were joint plaintiffs with 49 others who had not signed such agreements, according to the California Court of Appeals in an unpublished opinion.   [Ed. note:  most of the interesting California contract decisions these days seem to be unpublished.]

All the plaintiffs were making identical claims, said the court, and requiring 20 of them to go to arbirtration and 49 of them to proceed in court raised the possiblity of conflicting decisions.

McGrath v. General Trailer Park Assocs

., 2004 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 10203 (2d Dist. Nov. 10, 2003).