Abaya

*1493 Opinion

Numerous residents of a mobilehome park sued the current and former owners of the facility where they live alleging substandard conditions. Defendants moved to compel arbitration or, in the alternative, judicial reference under an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provision contained in the leases of many, but not all, residents. In separate orders, the court denied arbitration and judicial reference. The denial was based on several grounds. Pertinent here, the court found that enforcement of the ADR provision risked conflicting rulings on common issues of law and fact by sending the claims of some residents to arbitration or reference, while others remained in the civil court for resolution.

Defendants challenged the denial of judicial reference in petitions for writs of mandate, and challenged the denial of arbitration in this appeal. The petitions for writs of mandate reached us first, and presented the question of whether a trial court has discretion to deny a motion under Code of Civil Procedure section 638 to refer a dispute to a referee under a predispute agreement of the parties where there is the possibility of conflicting rulings on a common issue of…