Unpaid commission lawsuit is dismissed because claims weren't raised in arbitration
Two brothers whose businesses worked together had a falling out and eventually Paul and William Hindelang went to arbitration to sort out who owed what to whom. Eventually, an arbitrator they had agreed upon ruled that William's business owed Paul's business nearly 1.2 million dollars in fee over-charges. William then sued Paul to recover commissions he claimed were owed to him for the same work.
Paul argued that even though William's claim was not stale under the statute of limitations, William should not be allowed to sue because he hadn't raised the issue of unpaid commissions in the arbitration. William cited the normal policy that a case is not "late" if the statute of limitations has not run.The Court of Appeals sided with the Defendant and ruled that William was foreclosed or "estopped" from raising the commission issue because he had not raised it at the time of the related arbitration. The Court held that the Defendant was prejudiced by not having an opportunity to address the commission issue in the context of the earlier arbitration.