Flores v. Nature’s Best Distribution

Summary

After Julie Flores was terminated from employment at Nature's Best Distribution, LLC, KeHe Distributors, LLC, and other affiliated companies, she sued for wrongful termination and violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. The defendants filed a petition to compel arbitration, presenting evidence that Flores had signed an alternative dispute resolution agreement. However, the agreement lacked a signature from a company representative, failed to specify to which disputes it applied, and merely noted that rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) would apply, but did not define which specific set of AAA rules were applicable. Flores disputed that she ever signed the agreement at all. The court dismissed the petition, noting inadequacies in the evidence to suggest that such an agreement actually existed between Flores and the company.
Affirmed. "[W]hen a petition to compel arbitration is filed and accompanied by prima facie evidence of a written agreement to arbitrate the controversy, the court itself must determine whether the agreement exists" (Rosenthal v. Great Western Fin. Securities Corp.). Here, the agreement in question was defined as one between the "employee and the company." While it bore the contested signature of the employee, Flores, it lacked a signature from any company representative and did not define what the company was. Moreover, the agreement failed to specify which disputes would be subject to arbitration and failed to specify which AAA rules would apply to the arbitration. Accordingly, this court found that the agreement was ambiguous at best and that defendant had failed to prove the existence of an agreement. Thus, the trial court properly denied the motion to compel arbitration.
Opinion by Justice Fybel.

— Brian Cardile