Arbitration is meant to be an alternate to litigation. Yet arbitration is itself the subject of much litigation over who must arbitrate, what must be arbitrated, whether and how the arbitration should proceed, and the deference courts must show to arbitration awards. This blog is intended to be a resource for litigators, in-house counsel, arbitrators and anyone else who wants to stay on top of the many thorny issues that arise under the Federal Arbitration Act. Our Bloggers →
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement More than one year ago, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit determined that California case law, which precluded arbitration of claims asking for public injunctive relief, was preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. Upon rehearing the case en banc, the Court backpedaled. Kilgore v. KeyBank Nat'l Assoc., __...
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement The Fourth Circuit issued a bold new arbitration decision last week, sending a putative class of shuttle drivers to arbitration while expanding its application of SCOTUS’ Concepcion decision beyond cases involving federal preemption of state arbitration law. Muriithi v. Shuttle Express, Inc., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL...
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement All the cool kids are talking about class arbitration lately. . . There are the two cases pending before SCOTUS, and now the Second Circuit confirms its place in the "in crowd" with a decision forcing a class of employees into arbitration in Parisi v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 1149751 (2d...
Class Arbitration While the oral argument before the United States Supreme Court in Sutter today was ostensibly about whether to affirm an arbitrator's decision that the parties' contract authorized class arbitration, the decision really turns on how the Court will review all arbitration decisions. (Transcript here.) Multiple...
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement The Supreme Court heard arguments in AmEx III today, the case that presents the question whether an arbitration agreement precluding class actions can be invalid if it makes it impossible for plaintiffs to vindicate federal statutory rights (in this case, because individual antitrust cases would be prohibitively...
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement A recent decision from a federal district court in Tennessee raises a discrepancy in how the courts treat arbitration agreements that hinder a plaintiff's state law and federal law claims. Cases under the FAA state that arbitration agreements cannot be enforced if enforcement means plaintiffs will not be able to...
Class Arbitration, Validity of Arbitration Agreement On January 29, the U.S. Dept. of Justice filed an amicus brief supporting respondents in AmEx III, arguing that to enforce the class arbitration waiver would be to create a large loophole for important federal laws. The Solicitor General has also asked to argue at the hearing on February 27. To my knowledge, DOJ...
Class Arbitration, Scope of Arbitration Agreement, Validity of Arbitration Agreement, Waiver of Right to Arbitrate The Ninth Circuit ruled this week that a class of car owners could pursue their court claims against the manufacturer, Toyota, for product defects and false advertising, despite the existence of an arbitration agreement in each of the owners' purchase agreements with the car dealerships. The court held that Toyota...
Appealing Arbitration Decisions, Class Arbitration One year ago, the NLRB ruled in D.R. Horton, Inc. that it is a violation of federal labor law for employers to require their employees to sign arbitration agreements waiving class actions, and that any arbitration agreements waiving class arbitration would be void. This week, the Eighth Circuit became the first...
Class Arbitration, Year In Review The big issue in arbitration law in 2012 was class arbitration. Many state court opinions that had found class arbitration waivers unconscionable were preempted under federal law based on application of Concepcion. And the federal circuit courts developed a split on how to interpret Stolt-Nielsen in cases where...
