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An Ohio appellate court has held that the presence of non-arbitrable claims against a non-party does not prohibit arbitration of claims by parties to the agreement.
In Murray v. David Moore Builders, Inc., No. 23821, 2008 WL 2439810 (Ohio Ct. App. June 18, 2008), Murray contracted with David Moore Builders (DMB) to construct a home. The contract contained an arbitration agreement. After defects with the construction allegedly arose, Murray sued DMB. Murray also sued an architect that was not a party to the construction contract or the arbitration agreement. DMB moved to compel arbitration. The motion was denied by the trial court because of the presence of claims against the non-party architect.
The Court reversed, holding that the trial court should have merely stayed the action against the architect pending resolution of the arbitral claim against DMB. The Court stated, "the presence of other parties and claims did not deprive [DMB] of its right to arbitrate qualifying disputes under the contract."
The Court also noted that Murray's other challenges to the arbitration agreement were attacks on its enforceability that must be considered in the first instance by the trial court.
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