{"id":906091,"date":"2026-09-08T16:20:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T22:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=906091"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T22:21:00","slug":"right-to-arbitrate-waived-by-filing-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/right-to-arbitrate-waived-by-filing-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"No Games Allowed: Right to Arbitrate Waived by Filing Suit and Waiting to Request Arbitration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>John Mark Goodman | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/2026\/08\/no-games-allowed-right-to-arbitrate-waived-by-filing-suit-and-waiting-to-request-arbitration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BuildSmart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"many-construction-contracts-these-days-include-an\">Many construction contracts these days include an arbitration provision.\u00a0 Those provisions generally provide that disputes between the parties will be resolved through private arbitration rather than litigation in the public court system. As with other contractual rights, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/arbitration-is-it-too-late-supreme-court-clarifies\/\">right to invoke arbitration<\/a> is waivable.\u00a0 Waiver may be accomplished expressly or implicitly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"legendary-jurist-frank-easterbrook-of-the-u-s-cou\">Legendary jurist Frank Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit explored the waiver issue in a concise, five-page opinion released last week in&nbsp;<em>Village of Schaumburg v. Permasteelisa North America Corp<\/em>., Case No. 24-1168, \u2014 F.4th \u2014- (7th Cir. Aug. 18, 2026).&nbsp; The case involves a construction-defect lawsuit filed in court by the owner of the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois.&nbsp; Several months after the initial filing, the owner added claims against a new defendant, one of the subcontractors on the job.&nbsp; Eight months later, the owner decided that it wanted to arbitrate the claims against that subcontractor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"in-the-interim-the-subcontractor-had-moved-to-dis\">In the interim, the subcontractor had moved to dismiss.&nbsp; That motion remained pending when the owner moved to compel arbitration.&nbsp; &nbsp;The trial court found that the owner had waived its right to arbitrate through its &nbsp;conduct and denied the owner\u2019s motion.&nbsp; The Seventh Circuit affirmed, reasoning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p id=\"the-district-court-did-not-commit-clear-error-in-c\">The district court did not commit clear error in concluding that the [Owner] waived whatever right it possessed to arbitrate with [the subcontractor]. The [Owner] filed suit without asking that the dispute be sent to arbitration. Two months later [Subcontractor] moved to dismiss the complaint. The [Owner] still did not seek arbitration, perhaps hoping that it would receive a favorable ruling on the merits. Only after letting the district judge spend six months working on [the Subcontractor\u2019s] motion did [Owner]&nbsp;<em>then<\/em>&nbsp;declare that the dispute does not belong in court. The judge understandably thought that the [Owner] was playing games\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"the-owner-countered-the-waiver-argument-by-pointin\">The owner countered the waiver argument by pointing to the contract\u2019s \u201cno-waiver\u201d clause. &nbsp;That clause provided that failure to exercise any right would not be construed as a waiver.&nbsp; Judge Easterbrook rejected that argument as an improper attempt to supplant federal procedural law.&nbsp; Just as parties cannot contract around federal notice-pleading standards, they may not avoid the federal requirement to file&nbsp;<em>timely<\/em>&nbsp;requests to arbitrate.&nbsp; As Judge Easterbrook explained: \u201cFederal judges are entitled to protect themselves, and litigants in the many other cases awaiting judicial attention, from manipulation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"a-copy-of-the-court%e2%80%99s-opinion-is-located-here\">A copy of the court\u2019s opinion is located\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/08\/Village.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 801.641.8304, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republished with permission. The article, \u201cNo Games Allowed: Right to Arbitrate Waived by Filing Suit and Waiting to Request Arbitration\u201d was originally published on BuildSmart by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Copyright 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Mark Goodman | BuildSmart Many construction contracts these days include an arbitration provision.\u00a0 Those provisions generally provide that disputes between the parties will be resolved through private arbitration rather than litigation in the public court system. As with other contractual rights, the right to invoke arbitration is waivable.\u00a0 Waiver may be accomplished expressly or&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/right-to-arbitrate-waived-by-filing-suit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No Games Allowed: Right to Arbitrate Waived by Filing Suit and Waiting to Request Arbitration<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,9],"tags":[9895,42,224],"class_list":["post-906091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arbitration","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-arbitration-2","tag-construction-contract","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>No Games Allowed: Right to Arbitrate Waived by Filing Suit and Waiting to Request Arbitration - Advise &amp; 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