The First Circuit just faced a fascinating formation issue: if a customer cannot see what she is signing, and no employee reads it to her or ensures she knows there are legal terms, is there a contract?  With Justice Souter sitting by designation on the panel, the court answered “no,” and thereby kept a class

In a footnote in Sutter, SCOTUS hinted that the question of whether an arbitration agreement allowed for class arbitration may be one of the “gateway” questions of arbitrability that are presumptively for courts to decide. Last year, the Sixth Circuit went one step further, finding that the availability of class arbitration defaults to the courts.

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 ___,