Summary 2011 WY 96

Summary of Order June 22, 2011


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Case Name: Dennis v. Jack Dennis Sports, Inc

Citation: 2011 WY 96

Docket Number: S-11-0140

URL: http://wyomcases.courts.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=463164

Order Dismissing Appeal

Facts: This is an appeal from two district court orders, (1) an “Order Regarding Motions Related to Arbitration” and (2) a “Decision and Order Over-Ruling and Denying Any Requested Relief Regarding Defendants’ Objections to Order Regarding Motions Related to Arbitration.” In the first order, the district court granted Appellee’s motion to compel arbitration and stayed district court proceedings. In the second order, the district court overruled objections to the first order.

Issue: Whether a order compelling arbitration is a final, appealable order.

Holding: The trial court's order did not in effect determine the action or discontinue it. The matter has merely been referred to arbitration and the appellant can obtain review of the arbitration decision and raise the very question presented here, whether the trial court was right in referring the case to arbitration. If an appeal from every order referring a case to arbitration were permitted, the policy favoring arbitration would be frustrated. Under Rule 1.05(b), an order compelling arbitration may affect a substantial right. However, this case does not involve a special proceeding. This is a typical civil action, a contract dispute. Thus, the order compelling arbitration is not an appealable order under W.R.A.P. 1.05.

Under Wyoming’s Uniform Arbitration Act (Wyo.Stat. 1-36-119) an appeal may be taken from: (i) An order denying the application to compel arbitration; (ii) An order granting an application to stay arbitration; (iii) An order confirming or denying confirmation of an award; (iv) An order modifying or correcting an award; (v) An order vacating an award without directing a rehearing; or (vi) A final judgment or decree entered by the court. Absent from this statute is a provision authorizing an appeal from an order compelling arbitration. Without such an authorization, the order compelling arbitration is not appealable.

Thus, the district court’s “Order Regarding Motions Related to Arbitration” is not an appealable order, nor is the “Decision and Order Over-Ruling and Denying Any Requested Relief Regarding Defendants’ Objections to Order Regarding Motions Related to Arbitration.” It is, therefore, ordered that the appeal be dismissed.