In Re Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.

In this mandamus proceeding, we must decide whether the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to stay litigation that could moot the potential arbitration of related claims in the same lawsuit. In In re Merrill Lynch Trust Co., we declared that there are “many circumstances in which litigation must be abated to ensure that an issue two parties have agreed to arbitrate is not decided instead in collateral litigation.” 235 S.W.3d 185, 196 (Tex. 2007). We applied this principle in Merrill Lynch Trust to stay the plaintiffs’ claims against two defendants until the plaintiffs’ related…