Echoing a holding already issued by four other circuits, the Third Circuit recently found that a defendant does not waive its right to arbitration by continuing to litigate in court, if the reason it failed to move to compel arbitration is that the motion would have been futile. Chassen v. Fidelity Nat’l Fin., Inc.,
Class Arbitration
Uber Enforces Arbitration Due To Delegation Clause And Opt Out
The 9th Circuit’s decision to enforce the arbitration agreement in Uber’s agreements with drivers made lots of news last week. And although it includes no new principles of law, it does emphasize some principles that come up regularly in consumer and employment arbitration, so it’s worth reviewing the details.
Former drivers brought an action in…
Class Rep Can Opt Out of Arbitration for All (And Other Recent State Court Anomalies)
Continuing last week’s theme of “States Gone Wild,” here are three more oddball summer decisions from state supreme courts. All of them find interesting paths around federal case law (IMHO).
Georgia Says Class Complaint Is Deemed Arbitration Opt Out For All Class Members
In Bickerstaff v. SunTrust Bank, 2016 WL 3693778 (Ga. July 8,…
Out On A Limb, 7th Circuit Creates Circuit Split Over Class Arbitration For Employees
Of all the federal circuit courts, I was not expecting the 7th Circuit to venture out on a limb to support the NLRB’s interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) as precluding class arbitration waivers. After all, the 7th Circuit gets affirmed more than other circuit courts by SCOTUS, earning it a reputation for…
Hold Onto Your Hats: CFPB Proposed Rules Will Lead to Lots of Class Action Litigation
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed the rules that it previewed last fall, following up on its Arbitration Study. Those rules would essentially ban class action waivers from consumer financial agreements, as well as requiring arbitral institutions to provide data on consumer financial disputes to the CFPB. (As an aside, the proposal is…
Fourth Circuit Finds Availability Of Class Arbitration Is Question For Courts, Not Arbitrators
Joining the Sixth and Third Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Fourth Circuit this week held that “whether an arbitration clause permits class arbitration is a gateway question of arbitrability for the court.” Dell Web Communities, Inc. v. Carlson, 2016 WL 1178829 (4th Cir. Mar. 28, 2016).
At issue was whether a federal judge or…
Fourth Circuit Holds Arbitration Agreement May Not Waive All Federal Statutory Rights
This week, the Fourth Circuit found an arbitration agreement invalid because it waived all federal and state laws. Although two other federal circuit courts had already found the same company’s arbitration agreement unenforceable because it called for an impossible arbitration process, the Fourth Circuit found it invalid for a new reason.
The issue in Hayes…
January Arbitration Update: Effective Vindication, Class Arbitration, and FAA Preemption
Lots of interesting arbitration law has been made already in 2016, so here is a roundup from the first four weeks of the year. As a teaser, courts have breathed life into the effective vindication doctrine, found arbitrators cannot determine the availability of class actions, and found state laws not preempted. More surprisingly, state courts…
SCOTUS Finds California's Contract Interpretation Skills Lacking In New Arbitration Decision
Just under the wire, SCOTUS released an arbitration opinion today, ensuring that 2015 would continue the string of years with cases interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act. In DIRECTV v. Imburgia, the Supreme Court found that California’s interpretation of an arbitration clause was preempted by the FAA. DIRECTV is a 6-3 decision, with Justice Kagan…
Same Arbitration Story, Different Jurisdiction: NAF, NLRB, and Nursing Homes
Some arbitration topics just never die. This post strings together new cases on three of those topics: 1) whether arbitration agreements that call for the now-defunct National Arbitration Forum (NAF) are enforceable; 2) formation fights in nursing home agreements; and 3) the continuing fight between the NLRB and the courts over class action waivers in…