arbitration agreement

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In the past few months, two federal appellate courts have had to determine whether parties were bound to arbitrate claims that arose from relationships governed by multiple agreements, only some of which called for arbitration.  While the courts reached different conclusions based on the facts, they both relied on the same critical inquiry: did the…

As a thank you to all the subscribers and readers who continue fueling Arbitration Nation’s success, this 100th blog post contains my recipe for the Best Arbitration Agreement Ever.  (I know, where did the time go??  The blog is growing up so fast!)  What should your arbitration agreement include?  How can you best take advantage…

Did you know that you can form an arbitration agreement without ever using the word “arbitration”?  That’s what the Second Circuit held this week in Bakoss v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds of London, __ F.3d __, 2013 238708 (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2013).

Bakoss analyzed the clause in a disability insurance certificate providing what happens …

The earthquake that was the Concepcion decision (in April of 2011) is still sending aftershocks throughout the judicial system.  In last week’s ruling, the Third Circuit compelled individual arbitration in Homa v. American Express Co., 2012 WL 3594231(3d Cir. Aug. 22, 2012), a case in which the parties have been fighting about whether the plaintiff…

The Eleventh Circuit has “ironed out a wrinkle” in Alabama’s arbitration jurisprudence that seemed to find executors outside the scope of arbitration contracts signed by the decedent. 

In Entrekin v. Internal Medicine Assocs. of Dothan, P.A., ___ F.3d __, 2012 WL 3208641 (11th Cir. Aug. 9, 2012), the district court had denied a nursing home’s…

It must be near the end of the clerk year, because courts are going gangbusters issuing opinions.  Today, a roundup of three arbitration decisions from Southern states.  Notably, Louisiana makes it tough for lawyers to enforce arbitration agreements with their clients.

After prominently noting that the lower court rulings were “eminently reasonable, logical and just,” …

With less colorful language than its last arbitration opinion, the First Circuit sided with the Second and Third Circuits in limiting the application of the 2010 Stolt-Nielsen decision on the availability of class arbitration.  Fantastic Sams Franchise Corp. v. FSRO Assoc. Ltd., __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 2402560 (1st Cir. June 27, 2012). …

The saga of Brown v. Genesis Healthcare Corporation continues.  Almost exactly a year ago, the West Virginia Supreme Court declared that arbitration agreements in pre-dispute nursing home contracts were unenforceable.  Then in February SCOTUS reversed that decision and remanded the case for consideration of un-preempted unconscionability.   Now, the West Virginia court has issued its decision…

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…