Under Florida law, a trial court may refuse to stay an underlying court action after refusing to compel the matter to arbitration, according to a Florida state appellate court.

In Open MRI Of Okeechobee, LLC v. Aldana, No. 4D07-3532, 2007 WL 4322778 (Fla. Ct. App. Dec. 12, 2007), Open MRI moved to compel arbitration of a dispute with Aldana. The trial court denied the motion to compel and denied a motion to stay the action pending an appeal of the motion's denial.

Upon Open MRI's appeal, the Court found that Florida law requires that an underlying action be stayed when a motion to compel arbitration is granted, but declined to expand the statute to require a court to stay the action during the appeal of a denied motion to compel.

Specifically, FLA. STAT. 682.20(2) provides that "the appeal [of a motion to compel's denial] shall be taken in the manner and to the same extent as from orders or judgments in a civil action." Since FLA. R. APP. P. 9.310(A) provides that a stay of a civil court order is a "discretionary decision of the trial court," a Florida court cannot be required to stay arbitration pending such an appeal. According to the Court, the effect of such a requirement would be to nullify the discretion given by the legislature under the statute.