California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Liu v. Premier Fin. Alliance, Inc., B284545 (Cal. App. 2018):
When an arbitration agreement requires the parties to share the costs of arbitration, and a party moves to compel the other side to advance arbitration costs, the trial court must determine the costs of arbitration and the moving party's ability to pay. (Roldan v. Callahan Blaine (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 87, 94-96 (Roldan).) If the court finds the moving party "lack[s] the means to share the cost of the arbitration" such that to require them to share the arbitration costs "might effectively deprive them of access to any forum for resolution of their claims," the court must order the financially solvent party to either pay the moving party's share of the arbitration costs or waive its right to arbitrate that party's claim. (Id. at p. 96.)
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