Must Go To Arbitration Even Though One Party Claims The Controversy Is Not Ripe For Adjudication.

The trial court denied a party’s petition to compel arbitration after concluding the petition failed to present an actual controversy sufficiently ripe for adjudication. Here, the parties, both of whom are sophisticated business entities, agreed to a broadly worded arbitration provision that obligates them to arbitrate “[a]ny and all disputes, controversies or claims arising under or relating to the Ground Lease.” In reversing, the appellate court stated: “[W]e decline to read an unwritten justiciability requirement into the arbitration provision the parties bargained for and negotiated. The expansive arbitration provision does not on its face limit the universe of arbitrable disagreements to those that are ‘ripe.’ Unlike some arbitration provisions that explicitly apply only to disputes that are ‘justiciable under applicable state or federal law’ [], the arbitration provision in this case is devoid of any such limiting language.” (Bunker Hill Park Ltd. v. U.S. Bank National Assn. (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 4; November 26, 2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 1315, [180 Cal.Rptr.3d 714].)