AMERIQUEST MORTG. CO., INC. v. Bentley
Decision Date | 27 November 2002 |
Citation | 851 So.2d 458 |
Parties | AMERIQUEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC., and Diana Harmon v. Kathryn BENTLEY, individually and d/b/a Kathryn Bentley & Associates. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Wilson F. Green and F.A. Flowers III of Burr & Forman, L.L.P., Birmingham, for appellants.
George Huddleston, Birmingham, for appellee.
Ameriquest Mortgage Company, Inc., and Diana Harmon, the defendants in an action pending in the Jefferson Circuit Court, appeal from an order denying their motion to compel arbitration of various tort and contract claims filed against them by Kathryn Bentley, individually and d/b/a Kathryn Bentley & Associates. We reverse and remand.
Kathryn Bentley owns and operates a real estate appraisal business, Kathryn Bentley & Associates, in Jefferson County, Alabama. Bentley performed real estate appraisals for Ameriquest Mortgage Company, Inc. ("Ameriquest"), from May 1998 to January 2000.
In January 2000, Bentley accepted an offer to work for Ameriquest at its Birmingham office as a retail account executive. Her job duties with Ameriquest consisted of originating loans on behalf of the company. The employment agreement Bentley signed upon acceptance of the Ameriquest job stated that her employment was on an "at-will basis" and that it was also conditioned upon her signing an arbitration agreement. The contract provided: "As a condition of employment, you will be required to sign the standard Mutual Agreement to Arbitrate Claims ..., which will apply during your employment with the Company and thereafter." Bentley and a representative of Ameriquest both signed the employment contract and the arbitration agreement.1 The arbitration agreement signed by both parties reads as follows:
(Capitalization original.)
The following facts were presented during the argument on the motion to compel arbitration. Bentley worked for Ameriquest originating loans until March 2000. Bentley became dissatisfied with her compensation, and she believed that Ameriquest had unilaterally changed the terms and conditions of her compensation package. Bentley decided to return to her real estate appraisal business. Bentley terminated her employment with Ameriquest, but claims that she left only after Ameriquest allegedly represented to her that the company would use her as a preferred real estate appraiser if she terminated her employment.
On June 19, 2000, Bentley learned that she had been removed from Ameriquest's "preferred appraiser's list." She was shown a facsimile transmission from Diana Harmon, an Ameriquest representative in California, which stated that Bentley had been removed from the preferred appraiser's list "for cause" because of a perceived conflict of interest. Harmon claimed that Bentley had been removed from the list because she had "refused to assure Ms. Harmon that she will not allow her prior experience as an Ameriquest Account Executive to interfere with her professional responsibilities as an independent appraiser."
Bentley sued Ameriquest and Harmon in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama. In her complaint, she alleged breach of contract, fraud, defamation, and tortious interference with business relations against both defendants. All of the claims are based on the alleged representations by Ameriquest to Bentley while she was employed at Ameriquest.
Ameriquest and Harmon moved to stay the proceedings and to compel arbitration based on the arbitration agreement signed by Bentley. In support of their motion, Ameriquest and Harmon submitted a copy of the arbitration agreement, a copy of the employment agreement, and the affidavit of Ginger Crawford, human resources manager for Ameriquest. Crawford's affidavit stated, in pertinent part, that Ameriquest is a Delaware corporation whose headquarters are in California. The affidavit also stated:
In her response to the motion to compel arbitration, Bentley argued that the arbitration agreement did not apply to the claims she was asserting because, she says, the claims are unrelated to her employment with Ameriquest and, even if they were, her employment contract did not sufficiently affect interstate commerce so as to invoke the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. ("FAA").
The trial court denied Ameriquest and Harmon's motion to compel arbitration. In its order, the trial court found that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable for three reasons: 1) no binding arbitration agreement was formed by the parties because there was no separate written acknowledgment of the arbitration agreement executed by the parties; 2) the arbitration agreement fails for lack of consideration because continued at-will employment was the recognized consideration for the agreement and Bentley's claims arose after her at-will employment with Ameriquest was terminated; and 3) because Ameriquest and Harmon did not meet their burden of showing that the employment contract between the parties substantially affects interstate commerce. Ameriquest and Harmon appeal.
The appeal of an order denying a motion to compel arbitration is subject to de novo review. Celtic Life Ins. Co. v. McLendon, 814 So.2d 222, 224 (Ala.2001); Fleetwood Enters., Inc. v. Bruno, 784 So.2d 277, 280 (Ala.2000); Patrick Home Ctr., Inc. v. Karr, 730 So.2d 1171, 1172 (Ala.1999). A trial court is required to stay or dismiss proceedings and to compel arbitration if the parties have entered into a valid contract containing an arbitration agreement. Ex parte Colquitt, 808 So.2d 1018, 1022 (Ala.2001). The party seeking to compel arbitration has the initial burden of producing a written arbitration agreement, covering a transaction that "substantially affects interstate commerce." Sisters of the Visitation v. Cochran Plastering Co.,...
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