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 →
Appealing Arbitration Decisions In an opinion released yesterday, the Seventh Circuit schooled appellant's counsel first on the application of the New York Convention and Panama Convention, then on the high standard of review it applies to commercial arbitration awards, and finally expressed profound disappointment with the frequency of motions to...
Appealing Arbitration Decisions The Third Circuit refused to vacate an arbitrator's award, despite allegations that she failed to disclose contributions the defendant's parent company had made to her judicial campaign and failed to disclose that she co-taught a seminar with in-house counsel for the defendant's parent company. Freeman v....
Litigation vs. Arbitration A new article is out with more detail about how opinions among counsel for Fortune 1000 companies have changed over the last 15 years with respect to arbitration and mediation. (I posted initial info here last spring.) By comparing results of a 1997 survey of Fortune 1,000 corporate counsel with results of...
Validity of Arbitration Agreement The Eighth Circuit made quick work of a nursing home's argument in favor of compelling arbitration this week. In a suit alleging negligent care of a resident, the court ruled that the arbitration agreement was not enforceable because the resident never signed it. GGNSC Omaha Oak Grove, LLC v. Payich, __ F.3d __,...
Validity of Arbitration Agreement In most cases, if this blog mentions Concepcion, it means that a court has found a state statute or line of decisions is preempted by the FAA. A Maryland rule, however, recently ran the Concepcion gauntlet and survived. See Noohi v. Toll Bros., Inc., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 680690 (4th Cir. Feb. 26, 2013). The...
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...
Litigation vs. Arbitration, Scope of Arbitration Agreement, Validity of Arbitration Agreement The Third Circuit just issued a decision that tries to divine the dividing line between challenges to the formation of contracts containing arbitration clauses (which are presumptively for courts), and challenges to the validity of contracts containing arbitration clauses (which are presumptively for arbitrators, if...
Validity of Arbitration Agreement Two federal circuit courts recently reversed district court decisions allowing non-signatories to compel arbitration. The analysis emphasizes that for a defendant to prove equitable estoppel compels arbitration, the plaintiff's legal claims must be closely related to the contract containing the arbitration...
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...
