After All, The $300 Filing Fee Was Subject To Adjustment By The Arbitrator—Why Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Expended To Fight Such A Benign Order?
The 2/7 DCA, in Metz v. Kavanaugh, Case No. B294388 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Mar. 17, 2021) (unpublished), had to deal with an appeal of a superior court order in which one party was required to reformat a pleading and file it as an arbitration, with the other party required to file the $300 arbitration filing fee (which could be reallocated later by the arbitrator). One party appealed, and the other party cross appealed. Cross-appellant agreed to dismiss his appeal if the appellate court dismissed the primary appeal because it was from a non-appealable order.
The Court of Appeal did dismiss the primary appeal, finding the order to be interlocutory and with no exceptional circumstances to treat it otherwise. However, here is what they had to say about the litigants’ activities: “The only thing exceptional about this matter is the extent to which the parties and their attorneys believed it was appropriate to spend tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees, and consume judicial resources in the trial and appellate courts, to resolve a dispute over a $300 filing fee and relatively minimal initial arbitration costs that the arbitrator will have the authority to reallocate anyway.” (Slip Opn., p. 14.)
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