Mondis Technology v. LG Electroncis, et al., 2:10cv216 (E.D. Tex. 2/13/12)
Judge: Rodney Gilstrap
Holding: Emergency Motion to Enjoin Arbitration Pending Appeal DENIED
This morning's virtual mail pouch also included this denial of the TPV defendants' emergency motion to enjoin arbitration pending appeal, which is another example of the time-honored truth that when the judge characterizes your argument as a "gotcha", you're going to have a bad day.
Judge Gilstrap denied the motion, noting that TPV "freely and knowingly agreed to arbitrate the monitor claims. Faced with a subsequent trial on its television claims, it settled with Mondis. That settlement, as seen by viewing the relevant documents as a whole, makes it clear to this Court that the monitor claims survived and are ripe for arbitration." TPV's request, as the Court saw it, was to ignore the substance of the settlement agreement in favor of the boilerplate language of the dismissal order. But the dismissal was subsequent to the settlement agreement and "was its servant not its master."
"For TPV to later say that the dismissal order covers the monitor claims and bars their arbitration is not only wrong, it can only be seen as an intentional effort by TPV to be unjust," Judge Gilstrap concluded. "TPV’s reading of the dismissal order out of context may have prompted its apparent “gotcha” approach to preventing arbitration, but the facts and law in this case do not support it."
