Wilmington Paper Corp. v. ANDA Management LLC, C.A. No. 2568-VCN (May 14, 2007).

When a dispute is subject to an arbitration agreement, it is often the case that immediate relief is needed to protect the parties in the period before the arbitration is decided. While sometimes an arbitration panel may have the power to issue orders that provide that relief, that is not always the case. Here, the Court of Chancery issued a status quo order that limited  management powers while an arbitration panel was being formed and was to review the disputes.

Status quo orders are thus a way to deal with problems that occur before the arbitrators can decide what to do. Note, however, that the Court limited the status quo order to the period before the arbitrators could act.