Third DCA Case: Stay of Case Overturned on Appeal

Probate disputes can involve multiple parties and multiple   estate documents.   Did you know that if one part of a dispute is sent into arbitration that the rest of the Palm Beach probate dispute can also be stayed pursuant to a court order? Before you go ahead and consent toarbitration you may want to hear what the Third District Court of Appeals in and for Miami-Dade County had to say.

 What is a Stay of Court?

• If you are litigating a probate dispute like a will contest one of the last things you want to hear is that the Court has issued a stay on your proceedings.
• A stay is essentially like the Court “pausing” your dispute while some ancillary matter is worked out.
• Can you guess where these are common?
• When a party has part of a case in arbitration and part in trial the Court will usually stay the trial portion until after the arbitrator has ruled.
• This prevents inconsistency, and arbitration has a reputation of moving faster than courts so courts will usually let them go first.
• Also keep in mind that often litigants who take a beating in arbitration are less likely to pursue the other case after all of that.
• This might not seem like a big deal until you consider what parts of a case will go to arbitration and which will stay in court.
• Sometimes the most egregious actions of a trustee or other individual are plain outside of the bounds of any agreement and you can get around arbitration but all of the actions that relate to the agreement with an arbitration clause will go to arbitration.
• In other words if a trustee physically assaults you then steals your money, you likely cannot go after him in tort until after the breaches of fiduciary duty are handled in arbitration (assuming you had a valid arbitration agreement).

Third DCA Grants Stay in Law Firm Dispute

• A former associate at a law firm in South Florida had an employment dispute and filed actions through the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the courts.
• Ultimately the court stayed the case while arbitration was proceeding, and the plaintiff appealed this decision.
• The court ultimately held that it had acted improperly in staying the case because technically the disputes were aimed at different parties even though the facts and controversy were the same.
• Do you agree?

Want to learn more about stays of abatement in these types of proceedings? Check out the entire case by clicking here.