Lehman

I. BACKGROUND

When MediaLab acquired Genius Media Group, the company Lehman co-founded, it entered into a post-acquisition employment agreement with Lehman. As part of that contract, the parties agreed to arbitrate any future disputes between them. Under the terms of the arbitration agreement, MediaLab agreed to pay the fees of the arbitrator or arbitration administrator. A dispute later arose regarding payment of a retention bonus, and Lehman filed a demand for arbitration with JAMS. On June 22, 2023, JAMS emailed MediaLab an invoice for $2,000, which represented the non-refundable filing fee owed to JAMS. The invoice stated, “Payment is due upon receipt.” Thirty days later, on July 22, 2023, JAMS sent a “[f]iling fee reminder”

1 Undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

2 email to MediaLab inquiring about the payment of the filing fee. Payment, however, was not received by JAMS until July 25, 2023.

A. Lehman’s Petition to Compel Arbitration and Payment of Attorney Fees After learning from JAMS that MediaLab’s payment of the arbitration filing fee had been made more than 30 days after it was due, Lehman petitioned the trial court,…