Rodriguez-Gonzalez v. The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel Spa & Casino, No. 3:2013cv01553 - Document 14 (D.P.R. 2013)

Court Description: MEMORANDUM AND OPINION: Granting 4 Motion to Dismiss. Signed by Judge Gustavo A. Gelpi on 9/30/2013.(er)

Download PDF
1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO 3 4 5 MARA E. RODRIGUEZ-GONZALEZ, 6 7 Plaintiff, 8 v. 9 THE RITZ-CARLTON SAN JUAN HOTEL SPA & CASINO, 10 Civil No. 13-1553 (GAG) 11 12 Defendant. 13 14 15 MEMORANDUM OPINION The court grants Defendant s motion to dismiss at Docket No. 4. The parties agree that they 16 submitted to arbitrate this matter, but Plaintiff protests because she claims the costs and fees of 17 arbitration would preclude her from affording arbitration. (See Docket No. 8 at 4-5.) Plaintiff s 18 concerns, however, are unfounded. Plaintiff s employment agreement with Defendant states that the 19 arbitration shall be governed by the American Arbitration Association s Rules for Employee Dispute 20 Resolution. (Docket No. 4-1 at 12.) Those rules impose all costs and fees for employer-promulgated 21 arbitration agreements on the employer, save for $200 or a lesser-agreed upon amount. In this case, 22 Plaintiff agreed to the Ritz-Carlton Employee Agreement, which is clearly a general employer23 promulgated arbitration agreement, and Defendant agreed Plaintiff would pay $50 in the event of 24 arbitration. (Id. at 13.) Thus, the only cost to Plaintiff is $50. Under the Rules for Employee Dispute 25 Resolution, the employer is required to pay the arbitrator s compensation, a non-refundable, upfront 26 fee of $1,350 is required to be paid by the employer, and the employer pays the hearing fees, all 27 expenses of the arbitrator, required travel and other expenses, and any AAA 28 Civil No. 13-1553 (GAG) 1 expenses, as well as the costs relating to proof and witnesses produced at the direction of the 2 arbitrator. See Employer Arbitration Rules Fee Schedule, American Arbitration Association, Rules 3 Amended and Effective November 1, 2009 and Fee Schedule Amended and Effective May 15, 2013, 4 http://www.adr.org/aaa/faces/aoe/lee/employment?_ 5 afrLoop=10805315342615&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=1yq29spqs_1#%40%3F_afrW 6 indowId%3D1yq29spqs_1%26_afrLoop%3D10805315342615%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_ 7 adf.ctrl-state%3D1yq29spqs_51 (last accessed Sept. 30, 2013). The court therefore requires Plaintiff 8 to pay the agreed-upon $50 and Defendant to pay the costs that are required in the Employment 9 Arbitration Rules, pursuant to the agreement between Plaintiff and Defendant at Docket No. 4-1. 10 11 SO ORDERED. 12 In San Juan, Puerto Rico this 30th day of September, 2013. 13 14 /S/ Gustavo A. Gelpí 15 GUSTAVO A. GELPI 16 United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.