A resource for litigators, in-house counsel, and arbitrators
Today’s post is a good one for all those defendants/ respondents who are convinced that they have a slam-dunk case and want to recover their attorneys’ fees. Because while these particular respondents were not successful, they paved a path that may lead others to collect attorneys’ fees after defeating claims in arbitration.
The case involved…
Some arbitration topics just never die. This post strings together new cases on three of those topics: 1) whether arbitration agreements that call for the now-defunct National Arbitration Forum (NAF) are enforceable; 2) formation fights in nursing home agreements; and 3) the continuing fight between the NLRB and the courts over class action waivers in…
Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has positioned himself as the Boogeyman that financial companies fear this Halloween season. Earlier this month, the CFPB outlined the proposals under consideration for regulating arbitration in the consumer financial industry. The proposals address the availability of class actions — as was widely expected — but…
Two opinions came out recently in disputes over the arbitrability of putative class actions alleging that employees were not paid for overtime (and other labor violations). In one, the Nevada Supreme Court acknowledged that its 2011 ruling, finding class action waivers in arbitration were unconscionable, is preempted. In the second, the Ninth Circuit found…
Nursing home arbitration agreements are among the most unpopular arbitration agreements around. Last week, Kentucky’s Supreme Court issued a lengthy, but fractured, opinion, finding three arbitration agreements were never validly formed because the signing parties did not have authority to give up the decedent’s constitutional right to a jury trial. Extendicare Homes, Inc. v. Whisman…
The issue in analyzing whether a party waived its right to arbitrate is usually whether the defendant waited too long to assert the arbitration obligation. But, this week the Second Circuit had the opportunity to address whether a plaintiff waives its right to arbitrate by the simple fact of bringing a case in court.
In…
Again this year, a famous athlete put the spotlight on the process of arbitration. Earlier this month, Tom Brady succeeded in convincing a federal judge to vacate the arbitration award against Brady. (The four-game “deflategate” suspension — a pdf of the decision is available through the link.)
The decision vacating the award is 40 pages…
Let’s say your client gets sued in court, the parties have an arbitration agreement, and you want to compel arbitration right away and not mess around with any other court proceedings. You already know you can make a motion to compel instead of an Answer, but you are stuck on this: what do you…
The primary purpose of this blog is to educate lawyers and clients about arbitration law. So, what better way to celebrate my fourth blogiversary than with an awesome new infographic about compelling arbitration! Making a motion to compel arbitration is trickier than it seems. When people call me for advice, I often have to tell…
Parties who ask a court to compel arbitration of all the plaintiff’s claims have a decision to make: should they ask the court to stay the claims or dismiss them (if it finds them arbitrable)? After noting that the federal courts of appeal are “about evenly divided” on that question, the Second Circuit held that…