Wanderlove Travel, LLC v. Avanti Destinations, LLC

THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE
CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING
EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

Wanderlove Travel, LLC, Respondent,

v.

Avanti Destinations, LLC, Appellant.

Appellate Case No. 2020-001449

Appeal From York County
Daniel Dewitt Hall, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2023-UP-032
Submitted January 1, 2023 – Filed February 1, 2023

AFFIRMED

Daniel Joseph Ballou and James Nathanial Pierce, both
of Morton & Gettys, LLC, of Rock Hill, for Appellant.

F. Craig Wilkerson, Jr., of F. Craig Wilkerson, Jr., LLC,
of Rock Hill, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Avanti Destinations, LLC (Avanti), a travel package broker,
appeals a circuit court order denying its motion to compel arbitration against
Wanderlove Travel, LLC (Wanderlove), a travel agency. On appeal, Avanti argues
the arbitration agreement was valid and enforceable because Wanderlove had
notice of the agreement. We affirm.

We hold the arbitration clause contained within the terms and conditions (Terms
and Conditions) on Avanti's website did not constitute a valid and enforceable
arbitration agreement. See Berry v. Spang, 433 S.C. 1, 9, 855 S.E.2d 309, 314 (Ct.
App. 2021) ("Appeal from the denial of a motion to compel arbitration is subject to
de novo review.") (quoting New Hope Missionary Baptist Church v. Paragon
Builders, 379 S.C. 620, 625, 667 S.E.2d 1, 3 (Ct. App. 2008)); id. ("[A] circuit
court's factual findings will not be reversed on appeal if any evidence reasonably
supports the findings." (quoting Gissel v. Hart, 382 S.C. 235, 240, 676 S.E.2d 320,
323 (2009))); Towles v. United HealthCare Corp., 338 S.C. 29, 37, 524 S.E.2d
839, 843-44 (Ct. App. 1999) ("Arbitration is available only when the parties
involved contractually agree to arbitrate."); Lampo v. Amedisys Holding, LLC, 437
S.C. 236, 242, 877 S.E.2d 486, 489 (Ct. App. 2022) ("Whether the parties have
formed an agreement to arbitrate is determined by applying South Carolina
contract law."); id. ("The familiar requisites to a binding contract are a meeting of
the minds of the parties as to all essential and material terms, supported by
consideration."); id. at 242, 877 S.E.2d at 489-90 ("A party cannot assent to
something he does not know about, so the law in general requires that for an
offer to be effective, the responding party must have reasonable notice of the
offer's terms."). To book services through Avanti's website, a travel agent was
required to create an account and would subsequently be directed to a portal
designed specifically for travel agents. The portal's home page displayed several
tabs, including one entitled "Legal," which contained, in a drop-down menu,
Avanti's Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions included an arbitration
clause and a notice that continued use of the portal constituted an agreement to the
Terms and Conditions. Wanderlove's principal stated that in four years of using
Avanti's website, she never viewed the Terms and Conditions. Further, nothing in
the record suggested Wanderlove's principal was ever directed to view the Terms
and Conditions to book services or use Avanti's website or was otherwise made
aware of the Terms and Conditions. Thus, we find she did not have reasonable
notice of the terms of the agreement and did not agree to the arbitration clause.

AFFIRMED. 1

GEATHERS, MCDONALD, and HILL, JJ., concur.

1
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.