Opinion
14-21-00389-CV
09-16-2021
UBERWERX, LLC, Appellant v. TRUXX OUTFITTERS, LLC AND STEVEN MAGERS, Appellees
On Appeal from the 11th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2019-60879
Panel Consists of Justices Wise, Bourliot, and Zimmerer.
ORDER
PER CURIAM
This appeal is from a judgment signed June 21, 2021 confirming and approving an arbitration award. Appellees Truxx Outfitters, LLC and Steven Magers seek to dismiss the appeal on the basis that a contractual provision of the parties' Asset Purchase Agreement, which includes an agreement to arbitrate various disputes, deprives this court of jurisdiction over the appeal. That provision declares that "[a]ny award rendered by the Arbitrator [to the parties' dispute] shall be final and binding and not subject to appeal."
This court previously analyzed whether a similarly phrased provision of an arbitration agreement waived a party's appellate rights in Center Rose Partners, Ltd. v. Bailey, 587 S.W.3d 514 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist] 2019, no pet.). The provision in that case declared that arbitrators' decisions shall be "final, binding[, ] and non-appealable." Id. at 521. We held that the plain meaning of the agreement's language "d[id] not constitute an express agreement to waive the right to appeal a judgment rendered on the arbitrator's award." Id. at 523. We reach the same decision here for essentially the same reasons elaborated on in Center Rose Partners. Accordingly, appellees' motion to dismiss is denied.