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FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Orange Coast is a general acute care hospital located in Fountain Valley, California. In 2000, Magdi Sidhom, M.D., and Orange Coast entered into the “Exclusive Professional Services Agreement” (Exclusive Services Agreement), making Sidhom the exclusive provider of anesthesiology services at the hospital. The Exclusive Services Agreement authorized Sidhom to hire other anesthesiologists to work at Orange Coast, but required those anesthesiologists to contract with Sidhom. Under the Exclusive Services Agreement, Sidhom controlled all scheduling, billing, and other administrative matters concerning anesthesiology services at Orange Coast. The Exclusive Services Agreement also included an arbitration provision stating, “Any Controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by a single arbitrator in arbitration at Los Angeles, California, administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, and judgment on any award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. . . .” Plaintiffs each entered into a separate “Anesthesiology…