Ex Parte Dan Tucker Auto Sales, Inc. (In Re John Phelps v. Dan Tucker Auto Sales, Inc.).

Summary

The court held that, under the parties' incorporated Commercial Arbitration Rules, Phelps was the claimant and initiating party responsible for prepaying the arbitration filing fee. Because the agreement was unambiguous, the court enforced its plain terms and rejected financial hardship as a basis for changing the contractual allocation of the fee, while noting that the arbitration rules provided hardship relief. The court granted mandamus and directed the circuit court to vacate its fee order and require Phelps to prepay the arbitration costs. The authors of separate opinions 9934032 and 9934030 concurred in the result while expressing reservations about predispute arbitration and explaining that financial hardship alone did not establish unconscionability.