Shaoxing City Maolong Wuzhong Down Products v. Keehn
Plaintiffs and respondents Shaoxing City Maolong Wuzhong Down Products Ltd. and Shui Yan Cheng (Cheng plaintiffs) filed a complaint alleging legal malpractice against defendants Ian S. Landsberg and Landsberg Margulies LLP, and defendants and respondents L. Scott Keehn and Keehn & Associates (Keehn defendants). Appellants Ian S. Landsberg and Landsberg & Associates brought a petition to compel arbitration, relying on an arbitration provision in their fee agreement with the Cheng plaintiffs. The trial court denied the petition. It ruled that Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2, subdivision (c) applied to preclude arbitration, as a party to the arbitration agreement was also a party to pending litigation with a third party, which arose out of a series of related transactions, and there was a possibility of conflicting rulings on common issues of law or fact.
We affirm. The trial court properly ruled that the Keehn defendants were a “third party†within the meaning of the statute, even though they had a separate arbitration agreement with the Cheng plaintiffs. Moreover, the trial court properly concluded the other statutory requirements were satisfied and acted within its discretion in denying the petition to compel arbitration.
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