Opinion ID: 223418
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Extent to Which Both Parties Engaged in Discovery

Text: The final Hoxworth factor focuses on the amount and scope of discovery in which the parties engaged prior to the request for arbitration. The District Court found that while the parties' engaged in discovery during the preliminary injunction proceedings which was closely related to the merits of the underlying dispute, the arbitration clause authorized the parties to seek preliminary relief without jeopardizing their arbitration rights. Thus, inasmuch as the parties did not engage in any discovery after the preliminary injunction hearing, the District Court held that the last factor neither weighed in favor nor against finding a waiver of Gray's right to arbitrate. Gray argues that the lack of extensive discovery in this case should be a powerful factor supporting enforcement of the arbitration provision in this case. Appellant's br. at 31. However, like the District Court, we are not prepared to discount completely the preliminary injunction discovery which, in this case, was quite extensive: the parties took the depositions of eight separate individuals; exchanged extensive written discovery responses, including 200 separate interrogatories, requests for admission and written document production requests; the parties exchanged more than 20,000 pages of documents and submitted to the District Court approximately 100 pages of Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. [14] Further, as the District Court held, the discovery was closely related to the merits of the dispute. Overall, even considering the lack of further discovery after the preliminary injunction hearing, we agree with the District Court that the absence of such discovery, considered from Gray's viewpoint, at best is a neutral factor in a waiver analysis.