Citizens of Humanity v. Applied Underwriters, Inc.

*809 Defendants and appellants Applied Underwriters, Inc. (Applied Underwriters), California Insurance Company (CIC), Continental Indemnity Company (CNI), Applied Risk Services, Inc., Joan Sheppard, Westin Fredrick Penfield, and Michael Scott Wichman (collectively, defendants) appeal from an order denying their petition to compel arbitration of a dispute with plaintiffs and respondents Citizens of Humanity, LLC and CM Laundry, LLC (collectively, plaintiffs). We affirm the trial court's order.

BACKGROUND

The RPA

In 2012, plaintiffs purchased from defendants a workers' compensation insurance package known as the EquityComp program. As part of that program, plaintiffs entered into a Reinsurance Participation Agreement (RPA) with Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Company, Inc. (AUCRA), a company affiliated with defendants. The RPA contains an arbitration *3 provision that provides in relevant part:

None of the other agreements between the parties contains an arbitration provision.

The RPA also contains a choice of law provision that states:

The instant action

In February 2015, plaintiffs filed a complaint against defendants and AUCRA alleging causes of action against…