The plaintiff brought a motion seeking to compel the defendants to participate in binding arbitration, appoint an arbitrator, and stay the court action pending arbitration arising from a commercial services contract.
The contract containing the arbitration clause was between the plaintiff and one defendant only, while the action also named a second defendant who was not a party to the arbitration agreement.
The court held that under s. 7 of the Arbitration Act, 1991 a party who commenced a court proceeding cannot move for a stay of that proceeding in favour of arbitration.
The court further found that compelling arbitration against only one defendant while staying the action against the other would risk multiplicity of proceedings and inconsistent results.
The motion was dismissed and the matter allowed to proceed in a single court proceeding.
