A husband and wife's legal malpractice suit against the Bracewell law firm will be dismissed if they don't submit to arbitration by mid-July, a federal judge has ruled, rejecting the couple's contentions that they cannot afford the arbitration fees.

U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled Wednesday in Sanford v. Bracewell, denying Bracewell's motion to dismiss the case. Instead, he gave the plaintiffs until July 18 to go to arbitration and pay the initial $2,500 arbitration deposit.

As part of his ruling, he said plaintiffs Craig and Mary Jo Sanford flouted the court's instructions to turn over numerous financial records from the past five years in support of their claim that they cannot afford to have their case arbitrated. However, because the limited financial information disclosed indicated the Sanfords could afford arbitration, and nothing yet proved their claims to be meretricious, he decided to give the plaintiffs another chance at recovery through arbitration.