Hermitage Inn Real Estate Holding Co., LLC v. Extreme Contracting, LLC

¶ 1. Defendant Extreme Contracting, LLC appeals from the trial court's order granting a default judgment to plaintiff Hermitage Inn Real Estate Holding Co., LLC in this contract dispute. The court held defendant responsible for enforcing a mandatory arbitration clause in the parties' contract and ordered defendant to "initiate" arbitration by a certain date. When defendant failed to do so, the court considered this a failure to obey a "scheduling order" under Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 16.2, and as a sanction, it granted a default judgment to plaintiff under Rule 37(b)(2)(C). Defendant…