An arbitration clause in a partnership’s operating agreement stated the parties would arbitrate any controversy arising out of, under or in connection with that agreement. That was a “narrow” arbitration clause covering only disputes concerning the interpretation or performance of the operating agreement. To write a broad clause covering disputes having any significant relationship to the agreement, the clause would have had to include words like “arising in connection with.” Here, the plaintiff’s legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and rescission claims were not encompassed by the operating agreement’s narrow arbitration agreement because they all flowed from the defendant lawyer’s breach of the duty of care and fiduciary duty he owed as a lawyer to the plaintiff client, not from the terms of the operating agreement even though the lawyer was a partner and a party to its operating agreement.
California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 1 (Lui, J.); June 1, 2016; 2016 WL 3085995