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A federal district court in Oklahoma granted a defendant's motion for leave to amend its answer and add the affirmative defense of arbitration, despite the plaintiff's argument that arbitration agreement had terminated.
In Peters v. Terminix International, Inc., No. 05-CV-0719-CVE-SAJ, 2007 WL 171910 (N.D. Okla. Jan. 18, 2007), Peters sued Terminix, his former employer, alleging retaliatory discharge.
While Terminix was conducting discovery for the lawsuit, it came across an arbitration agreement signed by Peters. As a result, Terminix asked the Court for leave to amend its answer and add arbitration as an affirmative defense.
Peters argued that leave to amend would be futile because the arbitration agreement terminated when his employment did. Unpersuaded, the Court granted Terminix's request for leave to amend.
Whether the arbitration agreement terminated when Peters' employment did was a matter of contract interpretation. The Court declined to decide this issue until the parties had an opportunity to brief it and noted that in allowing leave to amend, it did not have to decide whether Terminix's affirmative defense would prevail.
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