Baring Head bridge dispute heading to court-ordered mediation A longstanding dispute between the Greater Wellington Regional Council and Alan Loan as to who must pay for a new bridge over the Wainuiomata River is on its way to mediation. Mr Loan is refusing to pay $224,000 towards the total $750,000 costs of the new bridge. Without the bridge, Mr Loan cannot access his Baring Head property but that same bridge is intended to be used by thousands of cyclists, when it becomes part of the Rimutaka Cycle Trail. On the topic of court-ordered mediation… A 64-year old man in Gary, Indiana, was charged last month in Lake Criminal Court with strangulation (a level 6 felony) after police alleged he strangled another man during a recent court-ordered mediation. The mediation became so heated, an affidavit says, that the man tore up the victim’s papers before allegedly throttling him with both hands. Sony Pictures: Arbitrator to determine gateway issue of arbitrability The United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, has granted Sony’s motion to arbitrate a dispute brought by Possibility Picture, arising from the cyber-attack on Sony enabling the film To Write on Her Arms to be downloaded for free almost 20,000 times. Judge Daniel Irick, in his Report and Recommendations, recommended that the parties be compelled to arbitration for consideration by the arbitrator of the gateway issue of arbitrability of the claim and that the case be stayed pending arbitration.
In other Hollywood news In other Hollywood news, the Kardashians – best known for their reality tv series – have had their motion to compel arbitration of Kroma Makeup, EU’s claims against them for cosmetics trademark infringement declined. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that, whilst policy was generally in favour of arbitration, ultimately the question was a matter of contract. In this case, the Kardashians were seeking to enforce an arbitration clause in an agreement to which they were not parties.
The Kardashians argued that, whilst they were not signatories to the agreement, they ought to be entitled to compel arbitration of the claim against them by using Florida’s doctrine of equitable estoppel. Under that doctrine, any non-signatory defendant to an agreement containing an arbitration clause, is able to force arbitration of a signatory’s claims when the signatory…must rely on the terms of the written agreement in asserting its claims against the nonsignatory… (Allscripts Healthcare Sols Inc v Pain Clinic of Nw. Fla, Inc 158 So. 3d 644,646 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)). The doctrine cannot however, be invoked to compel arbitration of claims that are outside of the scope of the arbitration clause. The Court held that the doctrine permits a non-signatory to an agreement to avail herself of an arbitration clause only when the claims asserted against her fall within the scope of the clause that the signatories had agreed upon. In this case the claim fell outside the scope of the clause, and accordingly, the district court’s judgment was affirmed.