Perez

INTRODUCTION

L’Abri Management, Inc. (L’Abri) appeals from the denial of its motion to compel arbitration of claims asserted by its former employee Desiree Perez. The trial court concluded that the parties had not entered into a binding arbitration agreement because only Perez, and not L’Abri, had signed the agreement at issue when she was onboarded. But “the presence or absence of a signature [is not] dispositive; it is the presence or absence of evidence of an agreement to arbitrate which matters.” (Banner Entertainment, Inc. v. Superior Court (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 348, 361.) Because a signature is but one form of such evidence, “the writing memorializing an arbitration agreement need not be signed by both parties in order to be upheld as a binding arbitration agreement.” (Serafin v. Balco Properties Ltd., LLC (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 165, 176.) Here, L’Abri manifested its assent to the arbitration agreement by presenting it to Perez when it hired her under circumstances indicating L’Abri intended to be bound by the agreement if Perez also agreed. Under standard principles of contract formation, L’Abri made an offer to Perez when it presented her with the arbitration agreement in…