Perennial Issue: Can Nonsignatories To Arbitration Agreement Compel Arbitration? An investment advisor and related defendants petitioned to arbitrate claims brought by an investor’s successor in interest. The successor (John) alleged that the accounts of his deceased mother had been “churned” to improperly generate commissions. The trial court denied the petition brought by the […]
In One Case, Arbitration Presented Possibility Of Inconsistent Rulings, And In The Other Case, Arbitration Of Indemnification Claim Was Beyond The Scope Of The Agreement To Arbitrate The following scenario reminds me of cases I have litigated – and arbitrated. Buyer discovers water intrusion in home she buys, and sues Developer and later […]
District Court May Not Decide Whether The Arbitrator "Got It Right" On March 19, 2012, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in an interesting employment company-wide gender discrimination case. Sterling Jewelers Inc. v. Jock, 646 F.3d 113 (2nd Cir. 2011), cert. den., 2012 WL 3356. The […]
Could Choice of Law and Procedural Unconscionability Provide A Lifeboat For Class Action Plaintiffs After AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion? Our latest arbitration case out of the Ninth Circuit contains an interesting twist on the analysis of collective-arbitration waivers in consumer contracts. Coneff, et al. v. AT&T Corp., et al., No. No. 09-35563 (9th Cir. […]
Watch Deadlines And Exhaustion Requirements And Hope That It Works Out . . . The next case would be even more impenetrable without the helpful glossary of 15 acronyms at the end. Some of our favorites: CMRS (Commercial Mobile Radio Service), DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signaling), LEC (Local Exchange Carrier), ILEC (Incumbent Local […]
Steep Price for Noncompliance With Mediation Condition Precedent. The object lesson of this next case is that attention really must be paid to those mediation clauses that serve as a condition precedent before a party can initiate litigation or arbitration. In a 2004 case, the Fourth District, Division Three, put teeth into […]
Mandatory Arbitration Provisions: Will They Undermine the Benefits of Securities Law Regulation? In the March 12, 2012 National Law Journal, Gonzaga University professor and former law school dean Daniel Morrissey uses the example of The Carlyle Group L.P., involved in a showdown with the SEC, as a springboard to launch his argument that mandatory […]
First District, Division 3, Takes Practical Approach to Interpreting Arbitration Clause Between Two Merchants. The next case is a fount of curious factoids – such as (1) there is an American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) with its own set of arbitration rules; and (2) in 2009 a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Rissen was […]
AB 506: A Life Saver in a Fiscal Storm for Sinking City? In the March 10, 2012 Los Angeles Times, Diana Marcum poignantly reports about the fiscal plight of the port city of Stockton, and its human cost. Stockton has descended from boom to the brink of bankruptcy. Thriving back in 2004, Stockton has […]
Attorney, Who Was Not an “Arbitral Party”, Could Not Take Advantage of Arbitrator’s Findings Shumake v. Mirisola, Case No. B227383 (2nd Dist. Div. 2 March 5, 2012) (Boren, P.J.) (not certified for publication), is a good reminder of an elementary, but useful point, concerning arbitration. If you want to take advantage of the […]