NC Court of Appeals Reiterates Requirements for Orders Denying Motions to Compel Arbitration

On Tuesday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued two opinions dealing with the requirements for orders on motions seeking to compel arbitration. In Griessel v. Temas Eye Center and United States Trust Company v. Stanford Group Company, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded orders denying motions to compel arbitration because the trial courts failed to include certain findings of fact in their orders. The Court of Appeals reiterated the holding from its decision in Ellis-Don Construction v. HNTB Corp., 169 N.C. App. 630, 633, 610 S.E.2d 293, 296 (2005), that an order on a motion to compel arbitration must make specific findings of fact on (1) whether the parties had a valid agreement to arbitrate; and (2) whether the specific dispute falls within the substantive scope of that agreement.