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Citing state law and the underlying purposes of arbitration, a state court in Florida dismissed a party's attempt to bring a second motion to compel arbitration after it failed to appeal the first denial of its motion within the applicable statute of limitations.
In Freedom Life Insurance Company of America v. Wallant, No. 4D06-4610, 2007 WL 600629 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Feb. 28, 2007), Wallant brought a class action lawsuit against Freedom Life Insurance Company (Freedom) over five years prior to this action. Freedom attempted to compel arbitration in 2002, and a trial court refused to do so because it found that the arbitration clause was unconscionable.
In this action, Freedom again attempted to compel arbitration, arguing it should have another opportunity to compel arbitration because its first motion was denied before the class was certified. However, this Court disagreed and dismissed Freedom's action.
The Court noted that "Florida law does not authorize multiple motions to compel arbitration . . . [and] because an order denying a motion to compel arbitration is non-final, a motion for rehearing or reconsideration is not authorized."
If Freedom wanted to appeal the decision denying its motion to compel arbitration, it needed to do so before the time for appeal expired. The Court also noted that the fact that the first decision to compel arbitration was issued before certification of the class did not affect the fact that parties only receive one opportunity to bring a motion to compel arbitration.
Finally, the Court pointed out that the "the essential nature of arbitration – agreed avoidance of court litigation in favor of faster, less cumbersome private dispute resolution – suggests that multiple attempts to assert [arbitration rights is] not coherent with the right [to arbitrate]."
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