A resource for litigators, in-house counsel, and arbitrators
Maryland’s highest court recently affirmed the dismissal of an employer’s non-compete claims as time-barred, even though the employer argued that the parties’ arbitration excused the untimely filing. Kumar v. Dhanda, __ A.3d ___, 2012 WL 1521567 (Md. May 2, 2012).
The employee, a urologist, had signed a contract calling for all disputes to be “resolved…
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…
Just a few months after its first Director took office in January of 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is embarking on a study of arbitration. The CFPB announced on April 24 that it invites the public to send information about “how consumers and financial services companies are affected by arbitration and arbitration clauses,” so…
A new survey found that Fortune 1,000 corporations are significantly less likely to arbitrate contract disputes today than they were in 1997. In the 1997 study, 85% of companies reported using arbitration in commercial contract disputes at least once during the prior three years. In 2011, however, only 60 percent of companies so reported. In…
Although courts and practitioners may think of the Stolt-Nielsen decision as the death knell of class arbitration, the Third Circuit’s ruling last week serves as a reminder that the Stolt-Nielsen did not deal a mortal blow. In fact, in Sutter v. Oxford Health Plans LLC, __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 1088887 (3d Cir. April…
The Supreme Court of Arkansas has joined Florida, Ohio, and Arizona (at least) in holding that a non-lawyer is guilty of the “unauthorized practice of law” if he or she attempts to represent a corporation in arbitration proceedings. Nisha v. Tribuilt Constr. Group, __ S.W.3d __, 2012 1034641 (Ark. Mar. 29, 2012).
Nisha involved a…
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 Fourth Circuit recently affirmed that it will consider “manifest disregard of the law” as a separate basis for attacking an arbitration award, in addition to the four bases set forth in Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act. Wachovia Secs., LLC v. Brand, __ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 507022, at *8 (4th Cir. Feb…
The Sixth and Second Circuits addressed whether to vacate an arbitrator’s award recently. The Sixth Circuit vacated the award of an arbitrator who “exceeded his powers,” while the Second Circuit refused to vacate for “evident partiality.”
Based on the parties’ agreement, the Sixth Circuit considered vacatur under the Michigan Arbitration Act. In particular, the appellant…