arbitration

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Two federal circuit courts recently reversed district court decisions allowing non-signatories to compel arbitration.  The analysis emphasizes that for a defendant to prove equitable estoppel compels arbitration, the plaintiff’s legal claims must be closely related to the contract containing the arbitration clause.

Retail grocers asserted antitrust claims against wholesalers in In re Wholesale Grocery Products …

A recent decision from a federal district court in Tennessee raises a discrepancy in how the courts treat arbitration agreements that hinder a plaintiff’s state law and federal law claims.  Cases under the FAA state that arbitration agreements cannot be enforced if enforcement means plaintiffs will not be able to effectively vindicate their federal statutory…

The Ninth Circuit ruled this week that a class of car owners could pursue their court claims against the manufacturer, Toyota, for product defects and false advertising, despite the existence of an arbitration agreement in each of the owners’ purchase agreements with the car dealerships.  The court held that Toyota had not proven either of…

The Tenth Circuit this week refused to consider a plaintiff’s substantive arguments about its right to arbitrate because it found abstention was appropriate under the Colorado River doctrine.  D.A. Osguthorpe Family P’ship v. ASC Utah, Inc., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 150221 (10th Cir. Jan. 15, 2013).  Though the factual situation in Osguthorpe is…

One year ago, the NLRB ruled in D.R. Horton, Inc. that it is a violation of federal labor law for employers to require their employees to sign arbitration agreements waiving class actions, and that any arbitration agreements waiving class arbitration would be void.  This week, the Eighth Circuit became the first federal circuit…

Let’s say you are considering updating your form contract, or you are in the midst of negotiating a new contract with someone.  Should you include mandatory arbitration for resolving any disputes?  Assuming you have the choice, my view is you should only include arbitration if at least one of these five factors are present:

1. …

The big issue in arbitration law in 2012 was class arbitration.  Many state court opinions that had found class arbitration waivers unconscionable were preempted under federal law based on application of Concepcion.  And the federal circuit courts developed a split on how to interpret Stolt-Nielsen in cases where the parties’ arbitration agreement lacks language…

Just last Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to review a second circuit court case that allowed a class action to proceed, despite arguments that the arbitration clause precluded any collective actions.  The granting of these petitions is a fitting way to end a year in which there has been considerable discussion about how to apply…

In contrast to recent decisions from other circuit courts, the Fourth Circuit found a defendant did not waive its right to arbitrate, despite litigating for more than 6 months and conducting discovery.  Rota-McLarty v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 5936033 (4th Cir. Nov. 28, 2012).

In this potential class…