Was Delay In Requesting Arbitration Simply A "Strategic Convenience" For Defendants? Spracher v. Paul M. Zagaris, Inc. [Zagaris], and Higashi v. Disclosure Source, A1952941, A152962 (1/3 9/17/19) (Petrou, Siggins, Fujisaki), is a consolidated appeal brought by defendants in a class action in which plaintiffs alleged that defendants schemed to defraud plaintiffs. Plaintiffs were […]
The Practical Consequence Is That There Is No Private Right Of Action Under Section 558 To Collect Civil Penalties, And Hence Such A Claim Is Not Arbitrable. The California Supreme Court granted an employer's petition for review in ZB, N.A. v. Superior Court, S246711 ((Cal. Sup. Ct. 9/12/19) (Cuéllar, J.), "to resolve the […]
An Order Denying A Judicial Reference Is Not Appealable, Even When Coupled With An Order Denying Arbitration, Which Is Appealable. A frequent source of confusion with motions to arbitrate is an arbitration provision that refers to both the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and California law. Indeed, that was the source of confusion (somewhat […]
The Trial Judge Thought Something Didn't Seem Right. An opinion from the Second District, Division 6, begins snappily: "Of course, on occasion, a client may not fully appreciate the excellent result achieved by her or his attorney." And of course, the author is Justice Gilbert. Mancini & Associates v. Jason Schwetz, B290498 (2/6 […]
The Book Reviews Are In The Current Issue Of California Litigation. California Litigation, the journal of the California Lawyers Association, has published an article with three of my book reviews in its current issue, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2019. With the permission of California Litigation, I am making the article available if […]
Daughter's Signature Did Not Bind Her Individually Or As Successor In Interest. Nursing home arbitration agreements continue to generate plenty of cases. In fact, we have posted about arbitration and nursing homes a number of times. See, for example, our posts of 3/27/2012, 5/21/2012, 11/5/2013, 8/5/2016, 11/1/2016, 2/23/2017, and 7/25/2019. Why are […]
Employee's Claims Arose Before He Signed Arbitration Agreement. Is an arbitration agreement enforceable when the employee's claim arises before he signs the arbitration agreement? Yes, says the Court of Appeal in Franco v. Greystone Ridge Condominium, et al., G056559 (4/3 8/27/19) (Fybel, Aronson, Thompson). In this case, "[t]he parties' arbitration agreement is […]
Intervening Supreme Court Law Means Earlier Ninth Circuit Law Is No Longer Good Law. ERISA claims may be the subject of mandatory arbitration: that's the holding and threshold issue in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., 18-15281 (9th Cir. 8/20/19) (Pearson, Gould, Ikuta). To reach this result, the panel needed to conclude that […]
Court Of Appeal Distinguishes The Broughton-Cruz Rule. Clifford v. Quest Software, Inc., G055858 (4/3 8/14/19) (Aronson, O'Leary, Goethals) addresses, "whether an employee's claim against his employer for unfair competition under Business and Professions Code section 17200 (the UCL) is arbitrable." Assuming the arbitration clause is valid and enforceable, the Court holds that […]
Fourth District, Division 1 Agrees With Conclusions Of Lawson and Zakaryan Courts. The employer in Mejia v. Merchants Building Maintenance, LLC, D074620 (4/1 8/13/19) (Aaron, Benke, Huffman), tried to do what other employers have attempted: compel arbitration of the "victim-specific" relief portion of a PAGA claim. Appellate courts are divided on this question, and […]