What discovery procedures are available in a Christian Brothers Automotive arbitration?
Christian_Brothers_Automotive Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
(p) The parties agree that discovery shall be limited and shall be handled expeditiously. Discovery procedures available in litigation before the courts shall not apply in an arbitration conducted pursuant to this Agreement. However, each party shall produce relevant and non-privileged documents or copies thereof requested by the other parties within the time limits set and to the extent required by order of the arbitrator(s). All disputes regarding discovery shall be resolved by the arbitrator.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 76–372)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Christian Brothers Automotive Franchise Disclosure Document, the discovery procedures available in litigation before the courts do not apply to arbitration. Instead, each party must produce relevant, non-privileged documents requested by the other party within the time limits and to the extent required by the arbitrator(s). The arbitrator(s) will resolve any disputes regarding discovery.
This means that a Christian Brothers Automotive franchisee entering arbitration will have a more streamlined discovery process compared to traditional court litigation. The franchisee can request relevant documents from Christian Brothers Automotive, and vice versa, but the scope of discovery is limited. The arbitrator has the authority to decide what documents must be produced and when.
This limited discovery process aims to expedite the arbitration and reduce costs. However, it also means that a franchisee might not have access to all the information they could potentially obtain in a court case. Therefore, it's crucial for franchisees to carefully consider what documents they need to build their case and to present a clear and compelling argument to the arbitrator regarding the relevance of those documents.