A resource for litigators, in-house counsel, and arbitrators
To date, courts have largely limited the impact of the Rent-A-Center decision to arbitration agreements with explicit delegation clauses. But, what if Rent-A-Center applied to every single arbitration agreement that mentioned the AAA rules? That is a very real possibility, and one which would send almost all arbitrability disputes to arbitrators.
The Rent-A-Center decision used…
A few months ago I posted about actions that FINRA and the NLRB were taking in support of allowing class arbitration, and those agencies have recently taken additional actions that help consumers or employees with relatively low dollar claims.
The NLRB brought a complaint against 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc. The complaint alleges that 24…
Relying on the Rent-A-Center decision, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today that construed the parties’ relevant arbitration agreement very narrowly, thereby ducking a decision about whether the larger “disputes” section of the contract was void under state law. That makes the Eighth Circuit the first federal court to do exactly what…
The Missouri Supreme Court just acknowledged that its 2010 decision, finding a class arbitration waiver was unenforceable under state law, is preempted by the FAA, pursuant to the rationale of Concepcion. In Robinson v. Title Lenders, Inc., __ S.W.3d __, 2012 724669 (Mo. Mar. 6, 2012) and Brewer v. Mo. Title Loans, Inc.…
Three state law decisions relating to arbitration were toppled recently, based on application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s preemption decision in Concepcion.
In Kilgore v. Keybank, __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 718344 (9th Cir. Mar. 7, 2012), the Ninth Circuit held that California case law, which precluded arbitration of claims asking for public injunctive…
Building off last post’s discussion of the Solymar case, and the surprisingly fuzzy line between challenges to the formation of contracts containing arbitration provisions and challenges to the validity of those contracts, here is a hypothetical for you to consider. (Why a hypothetical? Because it is spring break, and spring break reminds me of law…
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…
The U.S. Supreme Court today vacated the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ decision from last June, holding that pre-dispute arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts will not be enforced in that state. The content of the decision is not surprising, as it relies on notions of federal preemption and follows the analysis in Concepcion…
A reasonable person may have thought that the Supreme Court effectively killed off class arbitrations with its decisions in Stolt-Nielsen and Concepcion, but at least two government agencies have recently made decisions that ensure financial consumers and employees can bring classwide claims in some arbitrations.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, regulates all securities…
Applying Texas law, the Fifth Circuit recently found that an employer cannot compel arbitration under an agreement that gives the employer the right to unilaterally change the terms of the agreement. Carey v. 24 Hour Fitness, USA, Inc., __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 205851 (5th Cir. Jan. 25, 2012).
The employee in the case…