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Benton Energy Service Co. (BESCO) has lost its appeal seeking to compel arbitration in a drilling patent dispute against Cajun Services Unlimited LLC. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding a decision from the Eastern District of Louisiana, recently found that BESCO waived its right to arbitration of its claims in light of the extended litigation that took place before BESCO even raised the possibility of arbitration.
In January 2017, Cajun filed suit against BESCO in Louisiana district court in a dispute over ownership and intellectual property rights in an elevator system used in oil drilling. For seven months following BESCO’s first responsive pleading in that case, BESCO made no mention of arbitration, raising it for the first time in opposition to one of Cajun’s motions for summary judgment following discovery. That case was administratively closed, but a separate, similar suit was later filed. This time