DKS, Inc. v. Corporate Business Solutions, Inc.

I respectfully dissent from the decision of my colleagues. Although I agree that California’s claim of “fraud in the incep*740tion” is a form of fraud in the execution that could render an arbitration agreement unenforceable, this case does not present such a claim.

California courts explain that in a case of fraud in the inception “the promisor is deceived as to the very nature of his act, and actually does not know what he is signing, or does not intend to enter into a contract at all” such that mutual assent is lacking. Rosenthal v. Great W. Fin. Sec. Corp., 14 Cal.4th 394, 415, 58 Cal.Rptr.2d…