Wegman v. Westlake Services LLC ( 2023 )

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Kwame Wegman, No. CV-23-02024-PHX-JJT 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Westlake Services LLC, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 At issue is Defendants Westlake Services LLC and MVConnect LLC’s Joint Motion 16 to Dismiss and Compel Arbitration (Doc. 11), to which Plaintiff filed a Notice of Non- 17 Opposition (Doc. 14). Because these parties agree that a valid arbitration agreement applies 18 to all of Plaintiff’s claims against the moving Defendants, the Court will grant the Motion 19 to Compel Arbitration. Defendant Metro Auto Recovery LLC took no part in the briefing 20 on this issue. 21 The sole question before the Court is whether to stay or dismiss Plaintiff’s claims 22 against the moving Defendants. Under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 3, 23 the Court is directed to enter a stay to litigation after compelling arbitration under a valid 24 arbitration agreement if a party requests such a stay. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 25 has held that, when a court “determines that all of the claims raised in the action are subject 26 to arbitration,” the court “may either stay the action or dismiss it outright” notwithstanding 27 the language of FAA section 3. Johnmohammadi v. Bloomingdale’s Inc., 755 F.3d 1072, 28 1074 (9th Cir. 2014) (citing Sperling v. Hoffman Const. Co., 864 F.2d 635, 638 (9th Cir. 1988)). 2 Here, Plaintiff requests that the Court stay Plaintiffs claims against the two moving || Defendants pending arbitration (Doc. 14 at 1-2), and the moving Defendants request a stay or dismissal of Plaintiffs claims against them (Doc. 11-1 at 7). Because Plaintiff requests 5|| a stay of his claims against the moving Defendants, and Plaintiff's claims against || Defendant Metro Auto Recovery LLC remain pending in this matter, the Court will stay □□ Plaintiffs claims against the moving Defendants. 8 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED granting Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss □□ and Compel Arbitration (Doc. 11). 10 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED compelling Plaintiff and Defendants Westlake 11 || Services LLC and MVConnect LLC to arbitration under the terms of the applicable arbitration agreement. 13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED staying Plaintiffs claims against Defendants 14|| Westlake Services LLC and MVConnect LLC for a limited period of time, to be determined 15 || by the parties’ progress in engaging in and completing the arbitration process. These parties shall file a joint status report by June 7, 2024, or within one week of a final arbitration 17 || decision, whichever is sooner. 18 Dated this 4th day of December, 2023. CN 20 Unifgd State#District Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 _2-