The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA; 9 U.S.C. §§ 401–402) permits a plaintiff to invalidate an arbitration agreement, and to proceed in court, if asserting claims of sexual assault or harassment. However, when a plaintiff, as here, brings suit in court, strategically withholds a known sexual harassment claim arising from the same events pleaded in that suit, and leads the court to compel arbitration without timely asserting that claim or the EFAA by proper opposition or other appropriate mechanism, that plaintiff has relinquished the benefits of the EFAA as to both the pleaded and withheld claims. We accordingly reverse the trial court’s denial of arbitration, which it based on the EFAA, as well as several related orders.
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