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:
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 &
Some arbitration topics just never die. This post strings together new cases on three of those topics: 1) whether arbitration agreements that call for the now-defunct National Arbitration Forum (NAF) are enforceable; 2) formation fights in nursing home agreements; and 3) the continuing fight between the NLRB and the courts over class action waivers in
Hawaii issued a bold arbitration decision this month. It applied its state contract law to conclude that the parties did not form a clear arbitration agreement, but even if they did, it was unconscionable because it prohibited both discovery and punitive damages. Narayan v. The Ritz-Carlton Dev. Co., Inc., __ P.3d __, 2015 WL
Cue the R.E.M folks, because the Supreme Court of Missouri issued a 4-3 opinion recently that appears to upend many employment arbitration agreements in that state. Baker v. Bristol Care, Inc., __ S.W.3d__, 2014 WL 4086378 (Mo. Aug. 19, 2014). However, the situation is not as dire as it may seem.
The high court
In a case between an on-line customer and Barnes & Noble, the Ninth Circuit recently refused to enforce the arbitration agreement found in the website’s “Terms of Use.” Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble Inc., __ F.3d__, 2014 WL 4056549 (9th Cir. Aug. 18, 2014). The decision further calls into question the validity of “browsewrap”
A new opinion from the Eleventh Circuit highlights an issue that can be confusing to those encountering FAA case law for the first time: when does the federal presumption of arbitrability apply? The answer is the presumption only applies to whether the scope of an arbitration agreement is broad enough to encompass the parties’ dispute,
On October 1, new Commercial Arbitration Rules became effective at the American Arbitration Association (AAA). These rules are likely to apply to all commercial arbitrations filed on and after October 1 (unless an arbitration agreement specifically provides for old rules). The AAA posted its own summary of the changes. Four of the most notable
More than one year ago, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit determined that California case law, which precluded arbitration of claims asking for public injunctive relief, was preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. Upon rehearing the case en banc, the Court backpedaled. Kilgore v. KeyBank Nat’l Assoc., __ F.3d __,
The Eighth Circuit made quick work of a nursing home’s argument in favor of compelling arbitration this week. In a suit alleging negligent care of a resident, the court ruled that the arbitration agreement was not enforceable because the resident never signed it. GGNSC Omaha Oak Grove, LLC v. Payich, __ F.3d __, 2013 WL