$5.1 Million Lawsuit Filed Against RHOBH Star Ordered to Arbitration

A federal court in Arizona has ordered a $5.1 million lawsuit that was filed against a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (“RHOBH”) star to arbitration.  In Stillwell Madison, LLC v. Girardi & Keese, et al., No. 2:19-CV-03563 (D. Arizona, March 16, 2020), a RHOBH cast member Erika Girardi, her spouse, and her spouse’s law firm were accused of using loan proceeds for unintended purposes in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.  In response to the case, the defendants filed a motion to compel the dispute to arbitration based on the terms of the loan agreement.  The plaintiff, Stillwell Madison, responded to the motion by asserting the initial loan agreement was later superseded by a contract that did not contain an arbitration clause.

Last month, however, Stillwell Madison filed a “Notice of Consent to Arbitration and Request to Stay Proceedings.”  According to Stillwell Madison, the company agreed to engage in arbitration for the purposes of judicial economy.  Due to the notice filed by the plaintiff, the Arizona federal court stated:

Parties are free to agree to arbitration of their disputes even though they are not contractually compelled to do so. See Schoenduve Corp. v. Lucent Tech., Inc., 442 F.3d 727, 732 (9th Cir. 2006) (citing Executone Info. Sys., Inc. v. Davis, 26 F.3d 1314, 1323 (5th Cir. 1994)). The Court finds that Plaintiff’s consent to arbitration renders Defendants’ request to compel arbitration moot. The Court further finds that staying this case is appropriate. See MediVas, LLC v. Marubeni Corp., 741 F.3d 4, 9 (9th Cir. 2014) (explaining that the Ninth Circuit’s preference is to stay an action pending arbitration rather than dismissing it).

Ultimately, the District of Arizona denied the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration as moot, stayed all proceedings in the lawsuit pending arbitration, and ordered the parties to schedule arbitration proceedings within 30 days.

Photo by: Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash