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According to the Ohio Court of Appeals, under Ohio statutory law, parties opposing a motion to compel arbitration must be granted a court hearing on the issue upon request.
In Brunke v. Ohio State Home Services, Inc., No. 06CA008947, 2007 WL 1805026 (Ohio Ct. App. June 25, 2007), Brunke appealed an order compelling arbitration of certain claims, alleging that the trial court erred in not holding a hearing before compelling arbitration as required under the Ohio Code.
The Court agreed with Brunke and reversed the motion to compel arbitration, finding that the clear language in the Code "specifically provides that 'the court shall hear the parties'" when ruling on a motion to compel arbitration. Since "[t]he record reflect[ed] that the trial court did not hold a hearing on the motion to compel," the Court reversed the trial court's order.
The Court did acknowledge that other decisions suggested a hearing was not always required, but held that those situations were limited to cases where the party had never requested a hearing or had moved for summary judgment before a decision was made on the motion to compel. Since Brunke had requested a hearing and had not moved for summary judgment beforehand, the Court held the statutory hearing requirement applied.
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