Tarrant Bell Property, LLC v. Superior Court, 51 Cal. 4th 538

Lessees and residents of a California mobilehome park sued park owners for substandard maintenance and conditions.
Lease agreements require arbitration for tenancy disputes, with a fallback predispute reference to a referee if arbitration is unenforceable.
Defendants moved to compel arbitration or, alternatively, appoint a referee under CCP 638; real parties opposed seeking to avoid conflicting rulings.
Trial court refused to compel arbitration and refused to appoint a referee under 638, citing potential inconsistent judgments and lack of judicial economy benefits.
Court of Appeal affirmed trial court’s discretion to refuse a general reference to avoid duplication of effort and conflicting rulings.
California Supreme Court granted review to determine whether 638 permits discretionary denial of reference despite a valid predispute agreement.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether CCP 638 gives trial courts discretion to refuse a predispute reference.	Abaya argues court may exercise discretion to avoid inefficiency and conflicting rulings.	Tarrant Bell contends court cannot deny a valid reference when prejudice to discovery/arbitration exists.	Court has discretion to refuse a predispute reference.

Greenbriar Homes Communities, Inc. v. Superior Court, 117 Cal. App. 4th 337 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 2004) (recognizes potential for multiple actions but not controlling when considering 638 discretion)
Trend Homes, Inc. v. Superior Court, 131 Cal. App. 4th 950 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 2005) (risk of multiple actions not dispositive on 638 discretion)
Treo @ Kettner Homeowners Assn. v. Superior Court, 166 Cal. App. 4th 1055 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 2008) (informative on judicial economy in related context)
People v. Cole, 38 Cal. 4th 964 (Cal. 2006) (statutory interpretation principles applying 'may' vs 'shall')