Todd Cahill was sued by his former employer. Mr. Cahill removed the case to federal district court, argued that the lawsuit was subject to an arbitration agreement, and asked the lawsuit be stayed so that the dispute could be arbitrated.
For reasons that are unclear, Mr. Cahill refused to pay the arbitration fees, so the district court lifted the stay, thus allowing the lawsuit against him to proceed in court. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s decision in Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. v. Cahill (the opinion is by Judge Scott Matheson).
This seems correct to me, because otherwise a party could obtain an order sending a case to arbitration, and then obstruct the case’s progress by refusing to pay the arbitration fees.
