TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff Conquest Construction Management, Inc. dba Reside Custom Homes’ Application/Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay the Proceeding is GRANTED.

The proceedings are hereby STAYED pending the outcome of arbitration.

Plaintiff Conquest Construction Management, Inc. dba Reside Custom Homes to give notice.

REASONING

“[I]n considering a . . . petition to compel arbitration, a trial court must make the preliminary determinations whether there is an agreement to arbitrate and whether the petitioner is a party to that agreement (or can otherwise enforce the agreement).” (M & M Foods, Inc. v. Pac. Am. Fish Co. (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 554, 559; see also Giuliano v. Inland Empire Personnel, Inc. (2007) 149 Cal.App.4th 1276, 1284 [“petitioner bears the burden of proving the existence of a valid arbitration agreement by the preponderance of the evidence”].) In deciding a petition to compel arbitration, trial courts must first decide whether an enforceable arbitration agreement exists between the parties, and then determine whether plaintiff’s claims are covered by the agreement. (Omar v. Ralphs Grocery Co. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 955, 961.) The burden then shifts to the opposing party to prove, by a preponderance of evidence, a defense to enforcement of the agreement. (Rosenthal v. Great Western Financial Securities Corp. (1996) 14 Cal.4th 394, 413.)

Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2 provides, in relevant part:

On petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party thereto refuses to arbitrate such controversy, the court shall order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if it determines that an agreement to arbitrate the controversy exists, unless it determines that:

(a) The right to compel arbitration has been waived by the petitioner; or

(b) Grounds exist for the revocation of the agreement.

(c) A party to the arbitration is also a party to a pending court action or special proceeding with a third party . . . .

“The right to arbitration depends upon contract; a petition to compel arbitration is simply a suit in equity seeking specific performance of that contract.” (Eng’rs & Architects Ass’n v. Cmty. Dev. Dep’t (1994) 30 Cal.App.4th 644, 653.) General principles of contract law determine whether the parties have entered a binding agreement to arbitrate. (Chan v. Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc. (1986) 178 Cal.App.3d 632, 640-641 [“The existence of a valid agreement to arbitrate involves general contract principles”].)

Plaintiff Conquest Construction Management, Inc. dba Reside Custom Homes (“Plaintiff”) moves the Court for an order compelling Defendants Sofia Vergara and Luis Balaguer, as Trustee of the Casa Bellagio Trust Dated February 4, 2013 (“Defendants”) to submit to arbitration of Plaintiff’s claims and staying this action pending resolution of the completion of arbitration. Plaintiff has provided a copy of the written agreement underlying this action, and the agreement provides that “[f]or any claim subject to, but not resolved by, mediation pursuant to Section 21.5, the method of binding dispute resolution shall be . . . [a]rbitration pursuant to Section 21.6 of this Agreement.” (Mot., Ferqueron Decl. ¶ 3, Ex. 1, at § 5.1.) Notably, Defendants do not oppose submitting this action to arbitration, and they state in the response to the motion that they do not dispute that Plaintiff’s claims should be submitted to arbitration in the pending JAMS arbitration filed by Defendants. (Opp’n, p. 2, ll. 10-17.) Much of opposition and reply focus on Plaintiff’s reason for filing this action given it now seeks to arbitrate, but these discussions are of no consequence to the Court here where the parties agree this action should be submitted to arbitration. Accordingly, Plaintiff Conquest Construction Management, Inc. dba Reside Custom Homes’ Application/Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay the Proceeding is GRANTED. The proceedings are hereby STAYED pending the outcome of arbitration.