Monarch v. Petra

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Petra’s motion to stay proceedings and compel arbitration. It held that Petra waived its contractual arbitration right by reentering the litigation without asserting arbitration, obtaining a stipulated vacation of default, and filing an answer that did not clearly invoke arbitration, thereby prejudicing Monarch. The court declined to decide whether a different waiver framework applied under federal law because Monarch established waiver under the existing three-factor test.