Reinsurance Focus

This case arose out of a severance agreement, containing an arbitration clause, between an employer and employee. Following the employee's death, his widow, who was aware of the agreement's arbitration provision, sued the employer in court alleging that the employer breached the severance agreement. After ten months of litigating in court, the plaintiff moved to compel arbitration. The district court denied her motion, finding that she waived her right to arbitrate by having invoked the judicial process to such an extent as to have prejudiced the employer. The plaintiff appealed the decision, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that, while disfavored, a court may nonetheless find that a party has waived its contractual right to arbitration by substantially invoking the judicial process to its opponent’s detriment, despite awareness of its contractual right to arbitrate, and that the trial court therefore did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to compel arbitration. Nicholas v. KBR, Inc., No. 08-20140 (5th Cir. April 15, 2009)

This post written by John Pitblado.