March 4, 1865 And March 4, 1921. Pres. Abraham Lincoln taking the oath of office at his second inauguration. Library of Congress. VP Calvin Coolidge and Pres. Warren G. Harding. Library of Congress.
Ninth Circuit Case of Morris v. Ernst and Young Is One Of The Three Cases. On December 9, 2016, I linked my article on "The Politics of Arbitration" to this blog. In that article, I predicted, "Morris [v. Ernst and Young] could serve as a springboard for sending divergent opinions about the enforceability of arbitration […]
A Trap For The Unwary . . . Kum Tat Limited v. Linden Ox Pasture, LLC, No. 14-17472 (9th Cir. 1/13/17) (Hurwitz, Lucero, Graber) presents a trap for the unwary. Plaintiff Kum Tat Limited sued in California state court in connection with its attempted purchase of residential property for approximately $40M, after its attempted purchase […]
The Setting: Dispute Is More Than Ten Years Old, This Is Second Appeal, And There's Still Plenty Of Fight Left In the Old Boys . . . Early on the Court's opinion oozes frustration: "As much as we are loathe to drag on this protracted litigation any longer, we conclude we must reverse and remand […]
Employer Cannot Compel Employee To Arbitrate Individual Aspects Of PAGA Claim While Maintaining Representative Claim In Court. We blogged about Hernandez v. Ross, E064026 (4/2 1/3/17) on December 8, 2016. Hernandez is one more California case holding that a court cannot split a representative PAGA claim into arbitrable and non arbitrable parts. We can now report […]
Just Because There Is An Arbitration Provision, Don’t Take The Existence Of An Arbitration Agreement For Granted . . . The mere existence of a contractual provision requiring arbitration does not mean that the parties have established the existence of an agreement to arbitrate the claims between the parties. At a minimum, a checklist […]
Material Amendment To A Footnote? On September 11, 2016, we posted about the Uber Drivers cases, Mohamed v. Uber Technologies, Inc., et al., and Gillette v. Uber Technologies, Inc., Nos. 15-16178 and 15-16181 (9th Cir. 9/7/16). The 9th Circuit opinion penned by Judge Clifton held that the issue of arbitrability was effectively delegated […]
Ordinarily, Denial Of A Motion To Compel Arbitration Is Appealable – But Not Here, And The Court Explains Why . . . Hayward Renaissance Walk Corporation v. Olson Urban Housing, LLC, A148372 (2/1 12/20/16) (Margulies, Humes, Dondero) (unpublished) does something satisfying that we like cases to do: it makes sense and imposes order on […]
Two Separate Agreements, Rather Than One Fully Integrated Agreement, Governed The Relationship Between The Parties. Pacific Interventionalists, Inc. v. Pedes Orange County, Inc., G052815 (4/3 12/116/16) (O’Leary, Fybel, Ikola) (unpublished) delves into the application of the parol evidence rule to an agreement containing a promise to arbitrate. In order to determine if parties intend […]