Morrison Restaurants, Inc. v. Homestead Village of Fairhope, Ltd.

The main issue in this case is whether a party to a foodservice contract waived its right to assert any rights it might have had under a mediation/arbitration clause in the contract. The trial court, finding no waiver, referred the dispute between the parties to mediation, with nonbinding arbitration to follow if the mediation proved unsuccessful. Based on the particular facts of this case, we conclude that the trial court erred.

Morrison Restaurants, Inc. ("Morrison"), entered into a contract with The Homestead Village of Fairhope, Ltd. ("Homestead"), by which it agreed to manage food-service…