MASSIEL HERNANDEZ, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SOHNEN ENTERPRISES, INC., Defendant and Appellant., 102 Cal. App. 5th 222

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The trial court erred in granting a Code Civ. Proc., § 1281.97, motion to withdraw from arbitration based on employer failure to timely pay arbitration costs because the parties' agreement specified that it was governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., which made California's arbitration laws inapplicable; [2]-Alternatively, to the extent the provisions of § 1281.97 mandating findings of breach and waiver might apply, the FAA preempted them because they did not apply generally to all contracts or even to all arbitrations and disallowed defenses to breach; [3]-The trial court's order was appealable, although not listed in Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, because an order granting withdrawal from arbitration was the functional equivalent of an order denying a petition to compel arbitration and thus was appealable under Code Civ. Proc., § 1294, subd. (a).