Plaintiffs purchased a used automobile after negotiations were conducted in Spanish. When a dispute arose, plaintiffs sued the automobile sales company. Defendant moved for arbitration, attaching a Spanish translation of the underlying sales contract, which included an arbitration agreement, in its petition. Plaintiffs produced a Spanish translation of the underlying sales contract, which contained no arbitration agreement. The trial court denied the petition to compel arbitration. The Court of Appeal affirmed, stating: “[Civil Code] section 1632 requires merchants to provide translations of certain contracts (including retail installment contracts for automobiles) when those contracts are negotiated primarily in a foreign language. (Civ.Code § 1632, subd. (b).) The Legislature enacted the statute to ‘increase consumer information and protections for the state’s sizeable and growing Spanish-speaking population.’ (Civ.Code § 1632, subd. (a)(1).) The very purpose behind this provision is to ensure that non-English speaking customers receive accurate information regarding the terms and conditions of the contracts they are being asked to sign.” (Ramos v. Westlake Services LLC (Cal. App. First Dist., Div. 2; October 30, 2015) (Ord. Pub. November 24, 2015)
