Baeza

Petitioners seek a writ of mandate directing respondent trial court to vacate its order requiring them to comply with certain contractual nonadversarial prelitigation procedures prior to continuing to prosecute their construction defect action against real party in interest, Castle & Cooke California, Inc. (Castle & Cooke). We deny the petition.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Petitioners are the owners of 32 homes purchased from Castle & Cooke, the developer. Petitioners and other plaintiffs 1 filed an action against Castle & Cooke and other defendants, alleging there are defects in the construction of their homes. Castle & Cooke moved for an order compelling petitioners and the owners of five other homes 2 to comply with certain statutory or contractual procedures applicable to claims of construction defects. It sought to compel the owners of homes in the Brighton Place, Brighton Parks, and Brighton Village developments to comply with contractual provisions for nonadversarial prelitigation procedures, including mediation, and judicial reference; it sought to compel the owners in the Villages of Brimhall and Brighton Estates to comply with statutory nonadversarial…