The Court agrees with Defendant that proceedings in this Court must be stayed pending Defendant's appeal of this Court's August 8, 2023 order vacating the January 10, 2023 order compelling the parties to arbitrate Plaintiff's claims and staying proceedings in this Court pending the outcome of the arbitration. The Court rests this determination on the following three considerations.
First, an appeal from an order denying a motion to compel arbitration automatically stays proceedings in the trial court pending the appeal. (Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc. v. Superior Court (1988) 201 Cal.App.3d 924, 925.)
Second, an aggrieved party may appeal from an order vacating a prior order granting a motion to compel arbitration and staying proceedings in the trial court. (Williams v. West Coast Hospitals (2022) 86 Cal.App.5th 1054, 1064.)
Third, "[a]s a general matter, an order vacating an order compelling arbitration is the functional equivalent of an order denying a petition to compel arbitration in the first place because both divert a case into court rather than arbitration . . . . " (Gallo v. Wood Ranch USA, Inc.5t(2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 621, 633.)
In the Court's view, these three considerations support the proposition advanced by Defendant that its appeal of the order vacating the order compelling arbitration of Plaintiff's claims and staying proceedings in this Court automatically stays proceedings in this Court pending the appeal. Put simply, if an order vacating an order compelling arbitration is the functional equivalent of an order denying a motion to compel arbitration, and an appeal from from an order denying a motion to compel arbitration automatically stays proceedings in the trial court pending the appeal, then an appeal from an order vacating an order granting a motion to compel arbitration and staying proceedings in the trial court also must automatically stay trial court proceedings.
In sum, proceedings in this Court are once again stayed. The Court is setting a conference on the status of the Defendant's appeal for July 2, 2024 at 8:30 a.m.
