Saturday, December 22, 2007

In Re Weeks Marine, Inc. (Tex.App.- Houston [14th Dist.] Dec. 19, 2007)(Seymore) (arbitration mandamus) GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART: Opinion by Justice SeymoreBefore Justices Brock Yates, Frost and Seymore 14-07-00501-CV In Re: Weeks Marine, Inc. Appeal from 215th District Court of Harris County (Hon. Levi James Benton) The order denying arbitration cannot be sustained on any ground considered by the trial court. Accordingly, we conditionally grant Weeks Marine's petition insofar as it requests us to instruct the trial court to vacate the order. We are confident the trial court will vacate its October 31, 2006 order denying Weeks Marine's motion to compel arbitration and its May 3, 2007 order denying Weeks Marine's motion for reconsideration. The writ of mandamus will issue only if the trial court fails to comply. The procedural unconscionability issue is not, as Weeks Marine contends, for the arbitrator to decide. The issue is for the trial court to decide, but the trial court has either not made a decision or made a decision on disputed affidavit testimony without the requisite evidentiary hearing. In either event, we are unable to direct entry of an order compelling arbitration while disputed issues of fact remain unresolved. Accordingly, we deny the petition insofar as Weeks Marine requests us to instruct the trial court to compel arbitration. === In Re Weeks Marine, Inc. (Tex.App.- Houston [14th Dist.] Dec. 19, 2007) (Opinion by Justice Charles Seymore)(arbitration)

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