Aguilar

When plaintiff Raul V. Aguilar hired defendant Esther R. Lerner to represent him in a marital dissolution matter, he signed a written retainer agreement that included an agreement to arbitrate any dispute “concerning fees ... or any other claim relating to [plaintiff’s] legal matter which arises out of [plaintiff’s] legal representation.” Such an agreement normally would be enforceable under the California Arbitration Act (CAA). (Code Civ. Proc., § 1280 et seq.) A dispute arose, and plaintiff now contends this arbitration agreement is invalid, specifically as to defendant’s claim for attorney fees and costs, and possibly in its entirety, because the agreement contravenes his rights pursuant to the mandatory fee arbitration act set forth in Business and Professions Code section 6200 et seq. (hereafter the MFAA). (All statutory references are to this code unless otherwise stated.) Were the arbitration agreement found to be invalid in its entirety, he claims, he would be entitled to avoid arbitration altogether and litigate in a jury trial both his malpractice claims and defendant’s cross-claim for attorney fees and costs. The Court of Appeal found plaintiff was judicially…

I agree with the majority that plaintiff Raul V. Aguilar waived his rights under the mandatory fee arbitration act (MFAA). (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6200 et seq.) 1 Accordingly, I have signed that opinion. I also believe, however, that Aguilar’s agreement to arbitrate this dispute is enforceable for a far more fundamental reason: An agreement for binding arbitration between an attorney and a client is enforceable under the California Arbitration Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 1280 et seq.; hereafter the CAA) whether or not the client requests and receives nonbinding arbitration under the MFAA. As the majority notes, this case “poses the question whether the parties’ agreement to arbitrate is enforceable or is superseded by the MFAA.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 985.) The answer, apparent from the statutes, is straightforward. The MFAA complements, not supersedes, the parties’ agreement to arbitrate. The CAA and the MFAA coexist; neither preempts or supersedes the other.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1281, part of the CAA, provides: “A written agreement to submit to arbitration an existing controversy or a controversy thereafter arising is valid, enforceable and irrevocable, save upon such…

I concur in the judgment. I agree with Justice Chin that the issue here is less one of waiver than of the relationship between the mandatory fee arbitration act, Business and Professions Code section 6200 et seq. (MFAA), and the California Arbitration Act (CAA). (Code Civ. Proc., § 1280 et seq.) I further agree with Justice Chin that there is no incompatibility between the two arbitration acts, at least not in this case. But as the majority correctly points out, plaintiff and defendant entered into the arbitration agreement in 1994, and we have no occasion to consider the meaning of the 1996 amendments to the MFAA. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 990, fn. 8, citing Stats. 1996, ch. 1104, §§ 12-18.) One of those amendments changed Business and Professions Code section 6204, subdivision (a), to provide that an MFAA arbitration can only be made legally binding “after the dispute over fees, costs, or both, has arisen.” (Stats. 1996, ch. 1104, § 16.) At least one court has held that this amendment, among other things, evinces a legislative intent to preclude binding predispute agreements to arbitrate legal fees under the CAA. (Alternative Systems, Inc. v. Carey (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 1034,…

When plaintiff Raul V. Aguilar hired defendant Esther R. Lerner to represent him in a marital dissolution matter, he signed a written retainer agreement that included an agreement to arbitrate any dispute "concerning fees ... or any other claim relating to [plaintiff's] legal matter which arises out of [plaintiff's] legal representation." Such an agreement normally would be enforceable under the California Arbitration Act (CAA). (Code Civ. Proc., § 1280 et seq.) A dispute arose, and plaintiff now contends this arbitration agreement is invalid, specifically as to defendant's claim for attorney fees and costs, and possibly in its entirety, because the agreement contravenes his rights pursuant to the mandatory fee arbitration act set forth in Business and Professions Code section 6200 et seq. (hereafter the MFAA). (All statutory references are to this code unless otherwise stated.) Were the arbitration agreement found to be invalid in its entirety, he claims, he would be entitled to avoid arbitration altogether and litigate in a jury trial both his malpractice claims and defendant's cross-claim for attorney fees and costs. The Court of Appeal found plaintiff was…