Cash Biz, LP, Redwood Financial, LLC, Cash Zone, LLC Dba Cash Biz v. Hiawatha Henry, Addie Harris, Montray Norris, and Roosevelt Coleman Jr.
This case involves an interlocutory appeal by Cash Biz, LP and its affiliates against Hiawatha Henry and other appellees. Cash Biz is challenging a trial court's order denying its motion to compel arbitration and enforce a class action waiver. The appellees had sued Cash Biz for malicious prosecution, fraud, and statutory violations after Cash Biz filed criminal charges against them related to defaulted loan contracts. The trial court ruled that Cash Biz's actions in using the criminal justice system to collect a civil debt constituted a waiver of its right to arbitrate and that the arbitration clauses were inapplicable. Cash Biz argues that the appellees' claims fall within the broad scope of their arbitration agreements and that merely filing criminal complaints does not legally constitute a 'substantial invocation of the judicial process' to waive arbitration.