united-states civil-law civil-procedure court arbitration
Filling a complaint to compel arbitration?
<p>The concept of filling a motion to compel arbitration in response to a lawsuit is well known. Less known is the option of filling court proceedings to compel arbitration as a complaint - even when no lawsuit is pending.</p>
<p>The benefit of this approach is that one need not wait for the Plaintiff to bring a suit in court to enforce arbitration in the underlying matter.</p>
<p>Are there any legal differences one should be aware of when choosing to file the proceedings as a complaint as opposed to a motion? In other words, does filing it as a complaint put the person at any legal disadvantage (or advantage)?</p>

<p>Even when a Plaintiff brings suit in court to compel arbitration, the document filed in customarily called a &quot;motion&quot; rather than a &quot;complaint&quot; and there is no legal distinction between the two labels.</p>
<p>The process is essentially the same as filing any other lawsuit and the details are typically set forth in state law under the Uniform Arbitration Act as adopted in that state, although the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) provides some more bare bone guidance that pre-empts state law when state law and the FAA are in conflict.</p>
<p>One of the most common reasons to file a motion to compel arbitration in court, rather than going straight to an arbitrator, is that the arbitration clause is not sufficiently clear about how an arbitrator is chosen or what rules will be used in the arbitration to make a direct filing with an arbitrator possible.</p>
<p>For example, suppose the arbitration clause states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the event of a dispute arising under this contract, the dispute
shall be resolved by arbitration conducted in the City and County of
Denver, in the State of Colorado.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The gaps in that clause about who you arbitrate the issue before and on what basis would make a motion to compel arbitration necessary even for a plaintiff.</p>
