Covenant General Contractors, Inc. v. S.J. Louis Construction of Texas Ltd. and City of Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company ( 2020 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
COVENANT GENERAL CONTRACTORS, INC. NO. 2020 CW 0939
VERSUS
S. J. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION OF TEXAS,
LTD. AND CITY OF BATON ROUGE, EAST
DECEMBER $, 2020
BATON ROUGE PARISH AND LIBERTY
MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
In Re: S. J. Louis Construction of Texas, Ltd. and Liberty
Mutual Insurance Company, applying for supervisory
writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East
Baton Rouge, No. 682787.
BEFORE: McDONALD, HOLDRIDGE, AND PENZATO, JJ.
WRIT GRANTED. The trial court' s judgment denying the
defendants', S. J. Louis Construction of Texas, Ltd. and Liberty
Mutual Insurance Company' s, exception of prematurity and motion
to stay pending arbitration is reversed. S. J. Louis
Construction of Texas, Ltd. and Covenant General Contractors,
Tnc. agreed to by
arbitrate including
all claims the parties,
those arising out of any administrative and/ or statutory basis.
The issue of whether a party to an arbitration agreement has
waived arbitration is for the arbitrator to decide.
International River Center v. Johns -Manville Sales Corp., 2002-
3060 ( La. 12/ 3/ 03), 861 So. 2d 139, 142; Arkel Constructors, Inc.
v. Duplantier & Meric, Architects, L. L. C., 2006- 1950 ( La. App.
1st Cir. 7/ 25/ 07), 965 So. 2d 455, 461. Additionally, by
incorporating the American Arbitration Association' s
Construction Industry Arbitration Rules into the subject
arbitration agreements, the parties agreed that "[ t] he
arbitrator shall have the power to rule on his or her own
jurisdiction, including any objections with respect to the
existence, scope, or validity of the arbitration agreement."
See Fla. Gas Transmission Company, LLC v. Texas Brine Company,
LLC, 2017- 0304 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 12/ 6/ 18), 267 So. 3d 633, 637,
reh' g denied ( Jan. 25, 2019), writ denied, 2019- 0333 ( La.
6/ 26/ 19), 275 So. 3d 876; Jasper Contractors, Inc. V. E-
Claim. com, LLC, 2011- 0978 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 5/ 4/ 12), 94 So. 3d
123, 134. Accordingly, the defendants' exception of prematurity
and motion to stay is granted and this matter is stayed pending
arbitration of these claims.
JMM
AHP
Holdridge, J., concurs in the result, although I believe
the better approach would be to remand this matter to the
district court for a re --
trial of the exception of prematurity,
with the parties being afforded the opportunity to introduce all
relevant evidence. Giacona v. Conti Commodity Services, Inc.,
413 So. 2d 487 ( La. 1982).
C T OF A AL, FIRST CIRCUIT
T
DEPUTY CL RK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT