Litigation vs. Arbitration

The Supreme Court of Arkansas has joined Florida, Ohio, and Arizona (at least) in holding that a non-lawyer is guilty of the “unauthorized practice of law” if he or she attempts to represent a corporation in arbitration proceedings.  Nisha v. Tribuilt Constr. Group, __ S.W.3d __, 2012 1034641 (Ark. Mar. 29, 2012).

Nisha involved a

The severability doctrine of federal arbitration law tells litigants that unless they can specifically challenge the validity of the arbitration provisions of the contract, as opposed to challenging the entire contract, the courts will not address the merits of the challenge.  (See entire line of increasingly harsh cases starting with Prima Paint and continuing

In a very narrow decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) does not preclude the arbitration of consumer suits alleging violations of that Act.  CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 565 U.S. ___ (2012).  The 8-1 decision was written by (who else?) Justice Scalia, with a concurring opinion filed

The Second Circuit just held that a federal court has the power to enjoin an ongoing arbitration.  In re Am. Express Fin. Advisors Sec. Litig., ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL 5222784  (2nd Cir. 2011).  While many litigants would no doubt like a federal court to enjoin their arbitrations — especially when arbitrators refuse to

Two recent decisions illustrate how individuals that did not sign a contract can be bound by that contract’s arbitration provisions. 

In the first, Blaustein v. Huete, 2011 WL 5103759 (5th Cir. Oct. 26, 2011), an individual member of an LLC, Huete, argued he should not be bound by the arbitration clause between the LLC

Minnesota Senator Al Franken, among others, responded to the Supreme Court’s Concepcion decision  by introducing a bill called the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 (S.987, also in the House as H.R. 1873) last May, which would legislatively nullify arbitration provisions in various types of agreements.  The Senate Judiciary Committee heard two hours of testimony on

Since the last post dealt with legislative overrides of arbitration agreements, this one will expand on that theme with a preview of an upcoming Supreme Court case.  In CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, to be heard on October 11, the Supreme Court will decide whether Congress intended to prohibit arbitration of claims brought under a

Last week the Eleventh Circuit interpreted the scope of the arbitration agreement within a plaintiff’s employment contract to exclude civil claims stemming from her sexual assault by fellow employees.  In doing so, the court may have signaled a discomfort with sending civil claims based on criminal conduct to arbitration. 

In Doe v. Princess Cruise Lines

A recent decision from the Western District of Oklahoma reminds all litigators that you may be able to get preliminary injunctive relief from the courts, despite having a valid arbitration agreement.  Although this seems to fly in the face of the courts’ general arbitration refrain (stolen from M.C. Hammer: “[We] Can’t Touch This”), courts rationalize