In an opinion that coins new terms and uses the insouciant tone of a blogger, the 11th Circuit just shut down a putative class action brought by homeowners against a vendor of roof shingles. The Court found that the terms and conditions printed on the exterior of the shingle packaging formed an enforceable contract (with
11th Circuit
11th Circuit Thinks Class Arbitrability Is Not That Special
By Liz Kramer on
Posted in Class Arbitration
Usually the plaintiffs in a class action want to stay out of arbitration, but in the recent case of JPAY v. Kobel, 2018 WL 4472207 (11th Cir. Sept. 19, 2018), it was the class representatives who were fighting for arbitration. In particular, they wanted the arbitrator to decide whether they could have a class…
Employer's Attempt To Avoid Ongoing Collective Action By Forcing Potential Plaintiffs To Sign Arbitration Agreements Fails
By Liz Kramer on
In the past year, if I wrote about “FLSA” and “arbitration” in the same post, it likely meant that another federal court had found employers can include class action waivers in their employment contracts without violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. Today, however, is different. The Eleventh Circuit last week found that it was the…
11th Circuit Finds Not All Formation Challenges Are Created Equal (Some Go Straight To Arbitrator)
By Liz Kramer on
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…