The focus today is recent state appellate court decisions on arbitration. Because there are an awful lot of them, I am going to divide them roughly into those that are pro arbitration, and those that are hostile to arbitration. This post focuses on the three relatively hostile cases (with the friendly cases coming in a
Mall Smoothie Does Not Bind Teenager To Mom’s Arbitration Agreement With Credit Card
A new Seventh Circuit case answers the age-old question: if a fourteen-year-old swipes her mom’s credit card to complete a smoothie purchase at the mall, is she bound to the credit card agreement?
The case, A.D. v. Credit One Bank, N.A., __ F.3d __, 2018 WL 1414907 (Mar. 22. 2018), addressed whether the lead
Arbitration In the Eye of the Storm
Sometimes current events provide an occasion perfect storm to educate about arbitration basics. This is one of those occasions.
Here are questions that friends and colleagues storming mad people have asked me in the past day or so, with my best answers:
- Does an arbitration agreement have to be signed by both parties to be
Providing For De Novo Review of Award Can Invalidate The Arbitration Agreement
A recent decision from the 10th Circuit shows there is a whole new way to invalidate an arbitration agreement. In Citizen Potawatomi Nation v. Oklahoma, 2018 WL 718606 (10th Cir. Feb. 6, 2018), the court found the arbitration agreement unenforceable because the parties provided for de novo review of any arbitration award in federal court,
Fourth Circuit Finds Arbitration Award Not Confirmable Because Not “Final”
The Fourth Circuit issued an opinion yesterday in an under-developed area of arbitration law: when are awards “mutual, final, and definite”? This is an important issue because under Section 10(a)(4) of the Federal Arbitration Act, arbitration awards can be vacated if they don’t meet the standard of “mutual, final and, definite.”
In Norfolk Southern Railway
Sorry, Arbitration Agreements Are Not For The Courts’ Benefit
The Supreme Court of Nebraska gave an unpleasant surprise to its trial court judges last week: they cannot enforce arbitration agreements sua sponte. Boyd v. Cook, 298 Neb. 819 (Feb. 2, 2018).
The case involved a messy shareholder dispute. A key contract to the dispute contained an arbitration provision covering “any dispute or
4th Circuit Finds Club Waived Right To Compel Arbitration Of Exotic Dancers’ Claims
In a recent opinion, the Fourth Circuit cited waiver as its basis to refuse to compel arbitration, but the result seems animated by a sense that the arbitration agreements were unenforceable. Degidio v. Crazy Horse Saloon & Restaurant, Inc., __ F.3d __, 2018 WL 456905 (4th Cir. Jan. 18, 2018).
The case involved a
Back to Arbitration Basics: Recent Federal Decisions (and a SCOTUS preview)
Remember when Maria sang “Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start”? Well, that seems to be what federal circuit courts are doing with their arbitration decisions recently. This post will run through some Do Re Mis of arbitration law, as articulated by those decisions (and will close with some
Un-Vacated: Arbitration Awards Get Whiplash
Two cases recently fit in one of my favorite categories: those awards that get “un-vacated.” These cases went through arbitration, had that arbitration award vacated by a district court, only to have the award later resurrected by an appellate court. In today’s edition, the whiplash happens in both state and federal court.
In Caffey v.
Are Arbitration Agreements With Attorneys Unenforceable? Maine Says Yes (Mostly).
While I was busy writing deep thoughts about arbitration at the end of 2017 (see here and here), courts around the country rudely kept churning out new arbitration opinions. Hmph. So, I have some catching up to do. I start with one that has most captured my attention, Snow v. Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer &