WEST PALM BEACH — A unanimous decision on Sept. 12 by the Fourth District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida has overturned a lower court decision in the case of an injured minor.
William and Joanne Stankos filed a lawsuit against the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) after their son was injured during a Taekwondo tournament. The Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County issued a non-final order compelling arbitration between the parties.
However, the appeals court disagreed with the decision. Judges Spencer D. Levine, Carole Y. Taylor and Alan O. Forst heard the case.
“It is undisputed that the defendant below, the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, Inc. (“AAU”), waived arbitration by answering the Stankoses’ initial complaint. However, after the Stankoses filed an amended complaint, AAU filed a motion to compel arbitration, arguing that its right to seek arbitration was revived by the amended complaint,” the judges noted in the ruling.
“No Florida case holds that the right to compel arbitration is revived by the filing of an amended complaint,” the court decision stated.
“Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order compelling arbitration and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the judges wrote.
Judge Spencer Levine concurred and added a special opinion, saying “Although Florida law favors resolution by arbitration, a valid contractual right to arbitrate a dispute may be waived.
“In this case, AAU actively participated in litigation by filing an answer and affirmative defenses as well as an amended answer and affirmative defenses and engaging in discovery after the initial complaint,” he wrote.
“The issues in the amended complaint were substantially the same as the issues in the original complaint for which AAU had already waived arbitration.”
In their initial compliant, the Stankos’ made a variety of claims including negligence, “misrepresentation and concealment,” loss of filial consortium, and injunctive relief. In their amended complaint they added “a claim alleging that AAU violated section 943.0438, Florida Statutes (2013), and a claim under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA),” according to the appeals court decision.