A reasonable person may have thought that the Supreme Court effectively killed off class arbitrations with its decisions in Stolt-Nielsen and Concepcion, but at least two government agencies have recently made decisions that ensure financial consumers and employees can bring classwide claims in some arbitrations.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, regulates all securities
In the latest serve in a four-year ping-pong match between it and the Supreme Court, the Second Circuit has re-re-affirmed its holding that American Express may not compel arbitration of antitrust claims by a class of national merchants. In Re Am. Express Merchants’ Litig., ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 284518 (2d Cir. Feb. 1,
In a 2-1 decision, the Third Circuit held last week that the arbitration agreement in a personal computer purchase was valid, despite its mandate of a defunct arbitral forum. Its decision, Khan v. Dell Inc., ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 163899 (3d Cir. Jan. 20, 2012), is in line with the decision of the
The highest court in the District of Columbia has held that piercing the corporate veil is outside the scope of the arbitration clause in Giron v. Dodds, 2012 WL 18574 (D.C. Ct. App. 2012). But the case’s reasoning may extend to all cases in which a party must bring a court case in order
In a very narrow decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) does not preclude the arbitration of consumer suits alleging violations of that Act. CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 565 U.S. ___ (2012). The 8-1 decision was written by (who else?) Justice Scalia, with a concurring opinion filed
Earlier in 2011, courts in both Pennsylvania and Illinois issued decisions finding that when a consumer’s arbitration agreement called for the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) to administer the arbitration, but the NAF no longer administered consumer disputes, the arbitration agreements were unenforceable. Those courts found the parties’ choice of NAF was “integral” to the arbitration
As we pile up the cardboard boxes that held holiday gifts for the recycling truck and select our new year’s resolutions for 2012, here are a few reflections on the last twelve months in arbitration law. I would summarize it as another year where the U.S. Supreme Court was playing whack-a-mole, trying to tamp
The Supreme Court of Texas issued three decisions last week that all relate to arbitrator selection and offer reminders to drafters and litigators that arbitrator selection is a critical component of arbitration agreements.
Two of the decisions involved tort claims against the same defendant, a cemetery owner. In re Serv. Corp. Int’l, ___ S.W.3d ___,
Do you remember the moment when you first encountered the concept of arbitrating arbitrability? Just the phrase is mind-bending! It took me a while to wrap my head around the idea that parties could separately agree to arbitrate the question of whether they really had to arbitrate. Well, here’s a similar mind-bender: how does state
The Supreme Court of Florida has moxie. It issued two new decisions the day before Thanksgiving which go out of their way to sidestep and distinguish the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Rent-A-Center, West v. Jackson, 130 S. Ct. 2772 (2010), in order to find that nursing home residents may not be compelled to