The Oklahoma Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling in a lawsuit over arbitration between a Wynona well servicing company and a Bartlesville investment advisory group.
In a ruling announced this week, the high court ruled in favor of Focus Group Advisors, LLC of Bartlesville, an investment advisory firm that was sued in 2013 by Howell’s Well Service, Inc.
The suit was over the investment relationships between the parties and the formal agreements pertaining to the relationships. Two years after the filing of the lawsuits, Focus Group Advisors responded but did not raise the prospects of arbitration which was included in the original agreements between the two firms.
Seventeen months later, Focus Group filed a motion to compel arbitration. Mediation was unsuccessful over the next two years and the matter ended up before the Court of Civil Appeals which ruled against Focus Group.
The Bartlesville business took the matter to the Supreme Court and this week the justices overturned the Court of Civil Appeals ruling.