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Raspet v. Buck11/6/2001
Appeal by defendant from order entered 22 May 2000 by Judge William H. Freeman in Guilford County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 23 May 2001.
Timothy Buck (defendant) appeals from the trial court's order permanently enjoining him from proceeding with arbitration. We affirm.
Rebecca Raspet (plaintiff), and defendant were both employed as investment representatives with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in 1995. Later that year, each separately left the company, although they continued to work as investment representatives. Plaintiff was based in Durham, while defendant operated out of Asheboro. At some point in 1995, desiring to handle certain clients jointly, plaintiff and defendant created a limited liability company, titled Plan First, LLC. (Plan First). Each signed an "Operating Agreement" which contained an arbitration clause. The two jointly rented an office in Reidsville, while retaining their separate offices and accounts. Between 1995 and 1997 both plaintiff and defendant became employed by Mariner Financial Services, and later by Select Capital Corporation. While employed with Select Capital, plaintiff was defendant's supervisor. They also managed some Select Capital accounts jointly.
On 9 September 1997, Select Capital terminated defendant with thirty days notice. The company instructed defendant to transfer his clients to another broker no later than 120 days after 10 October 1997. In early February 1998, Select Capital wrote defendant to reiterate that the deadline for his transfer of clients to another broker would be 10 February 1998. Select Capital also directed plaintiff to cease any business relationship with defendant, and not to divide any commissions with defendant. Following defendant's dismissal, his name was removed from jointly held client accounts, which then were changed to reflect that plaintiff had become the sole representative for those accounts.
In July 1998, plaintiff and defendant signed Articles of Dissolution formally dissolving Plan First. Approximately eighteen months later, on 3 January 2000, defendant filed a Demand for Arbitration. Defendant alleged that he and plaintiff had an "oral buy- out agreement," under which plaintiff owed him money for client accounts they had previously managed jointly, and that he had not received this "buy-out" money. Defendant based his demand for arbitration upon an arbitration clause contained in the Operating Agreement for Plan First, which had been signed by both parties when Plan First was formed.
On 6 April 2000, plaintiff filed suit against defendant, seeking damages for slander and defamation, sexual harassment, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment by telephone, breach of contract, indemnity, and unfair and deceptive trade practices. On 6 April 2000, plaintiff also filed a separate motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and for a permanent injunction staying arbitration. Plaintiff obtained a TRO the same day, 6 April 2000. This order was replaced by a permanent injunction on 22 May 2000. In its order granting a permanent injunction staying arbitration, the trial court concluded "that no valid, applicable arbitration agreement exists that binds plaintiff to arbitrate the current dispute between plaintiff and defendant." Defendant appeals from this order.
Defendant's appeal from the trial court's order staying arbitration is interlocutory in that plaintiff's claims remain unresolved. Miller v. Two State Construction Co., 118 N.C. App. 412, 455 S.E.2d 678 (1995). Interlocutory orders are not usually appealable; however, this Court has held that the denial of a demand for arbitration is an order that affects "a
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