Thirty-Day Deadline Applies. The Court of Appeal, Fifth District, following the weight of California precedent, applies California Code of Civ. Proc. § 1281.98, requiring that the party who has drafted an arbitration agreement must pay arbitration fees within 30 days of when they are due, or else the other party gets an […]
Necessary Disclosures Were Found In The Group Subscriber Agreement And Enrollment Form. Dougherty v. U.S. Behavioral Health Plan, 101 Cal. App. 5th 682 (4/2 4/24/24) (Codrington, Miller, Fields) involves the application of Health & Safety Code § 1363.1 to determine whether a dispute had to be arbitrated with a health care provider. While reading […]
Reference To The URL For AAA Rules Is Not Clear And Unmistakable Evidence Of Delegation Of Arbitrability. In an employment-related disputed, employee Mondragon argued that an arbitration provision that did not cover PAGA claims to the extent possible excluded all PAGA claims from arbitration, whereas the employer argued that it was only intended to […]
Lawsuit Was Filed In March 2015 And Motion To Compel Arbitration Was Filed In March 2023. Plaintiff Joseph Semprini sued his employer Wedbush in March 2015, alleging 11 causes of action unique to him, and 7 putative class action claims for wage and hour violations. He added a representative PAGA claim in April 2015. […]
Termination Of Employment Stint #1 Terminated Arbitration Agreement. Plaintiff Jasmin Vazquez sued SaniSure, Inc. for Labor Code violations. SaniSure moved to compel arbitration based on the existence of a broad arbitration clause in Vazquez's employment agreement. SaniSure failed in the trial court and in the Court of Appeal. Vazquez v. SaniSure, Inc. (2/6 4/3/24) […]
What Vestigial Jurisdiction Does The Court Retain After Granting A Motion To Compel Arbitration? Plaintiff Dee Lew-Williams, the successor in interest to her late physician husband, sued defendants for embezzlement. Defendants successfully moved to compel arbitration. But Lew-Williams, claiming lack of funds, was unable to prosecute the arbitration, and so defendants moved the trial […]
Liquidated Damages Of $250K Were Reasonable In Proportion To $2.2M Settlement. After an all-day tele-mediation the parties executed a term sheet providing that defendant/cross-complainant would pay $1.6M to plaintiff, and cross-defendant would pay $600K. Defendant/cross-complainant had second thoughts the next day and reneged on payment. Cross-defendant paid $600K. And plaintiff successfully enforced the settlement […]
California Health Care Decisions Law Allows For Appointment Of A Health Care Agent. The problem in Harrod v. Country Oaks Partners, LLC, S276545 (CA S.Ct. 3/28/24) (Jenkins, J.) is that the health care agent who signed an agreement with a skilled nursing home facility containing an arbitration clause was acting outside the scope of […]
The Court Also Rejected Argument That Federal Preemption Required Enforcement Of Browserwrap Arbitration Provision. Plaintiff Brinan Weeks sued Interactive Life Forms, LLC in a putative class action, alleging that it made false claims, alleging "that he purchased a device called a Stamina Training Unit (STU) from the fleshlight.com website (the website) on or around […]
One More California Appellate Case Rejects Felisilda. We have written before about courts rejecting the application of the equitable estoppel doctrine to allow vehicle manufacturers to piggyback on to the arbitration provision in sales contracts between customers and automobile dealerships. In Davis v. Nissan North America, Inc. v. Nissan North America, Inc., D083006 (4/1 […]