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In American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, a divided Supreme Court today reversed the Second Circuit and held that plaintiffs may not invalidate an arbitration agreement containing a class action waiver merely because proving their claims on an individual basis would cost many times more than their potential recovery.  In doing so, Justice…

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Sutter today, unanimously holding that as long as the arbitrator bases a decision to allow or disallow class arbitration on the text of the parties’ agreement, her “construction holds, however good, bad, or ugly.”  Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, 569 U.S. ___ (June 10, 2013).  The …

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…

After an arbitration about-face by the defendant in a class action, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the defendant had waived its right to compel arbitration by: participating in litigation for two years and affirmatively declining to enforce its arbitration agreement with the plaintiffs until after SCOTUS issued its Concepcion decision.  Garcia v. Wachovia Corp.,…

The earthquake that was the Concepcion decision (in April of 2011) is still sending aftershocks throughout the judicial system.  In last week’s ruling, the Third Circuit compelled individual arbitration in Homa v. American Express Co., 2012 WL 3594231(3d Cir. Aug. 22, 2012), a case in which the parties have been fighting about whether the plaintiff…

With less colorful language than its last arbitration opinion, the First Circuit sided with the Second and Third Circuits in limiting the application of the 2010 Stolt-Nielsen decision on the availability of class arbitration.  Fantastic Sams Franchise Corp. v. FSRO Assoc. Ltd., __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 2402560 (1st Cir. June 27, 2012). …