Petitioner And Respondent Frame Issue Quite Differently. I wrote about Kindred Nursing Centers Limited Partnership v. Clark in an August 5, 2016 post, stating that the nursing company petitioning from the Kentucky Supreme Court to SCOTUS presented the issue thusly: ”Whether the FAA preempts a state-law contract rule that singles out arbitration by requiring […]
Is There A Meaningful Distinction Between Contract Enforcement And Contract Formation For Purposes Of FAA Preemption? Kate Howard’s October 26, 2016 post about “Petitions To Watch” in Scotusblog notes that an arbitration case, Tamko Building Products, Inc. v. Hobbs, No. 15-1318, is up for consideration at the conference of October 28, 2016. According […]
Here’s A Good Example Of Why It Is Harder To Set Aside A Mediated Spousal Settlement Than An Unmediated, Negotiated Settlement. In Marriage of Cooke, B257791 (2/7 10/17/16) (Segal, J.) (unpublished), the wife moved for entry of a stipulation for judgment that she and her husband signed. The opinion rather vividly describes the the […]
California Courts Have Repeatedly Held That PAGA Claims Are Between Employee Acting On Behalf of State, And Employer, And Therefore Arbitration Cannot Be Compelled By Employer. Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (2014) held, “[A] PAGA claim lies outside the FAA’s coverage because it is not a dispute between an […]
Fees Request Treated As “Hot Potato” By Arbitrator And Judge. A nice post dated October 20, 2016 in California Attorney’s Fees summarizes the convoluted procedure in Miceli v. Staples, Inc., Case No D070676 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Oct. 20, 2016) (unpublished), describing the case as one “where the arbitrator and court tossed an attorney’s […]
Substantive Rights Created By USERRA Are Not Lost By Arbitrating. On the one hand, on the other hand . . . On the one hand, there is a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements. On the other hand, the Federal Arbitration Act’s arbitration mandate can be “overridden by a contrary congressional command.” Does […]
On August 23, 2016, I blogged that the issue in Morris v. Ernst & Young was clearly framed by the majority and minority opinions, and almost certainly headed for Supreme Court Review. In that Ninth Circuit case, the majority held that an employer violates sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations […]
Attorney General Of Minnesota Say No, Joining Other Political Figures. On October 4, 2016, Adam Betz reported for the Star Tribune that Minnesota’s Attorney General Lori Swanson opposes Wells Fargo’s use of arbitration clauses to require its customers to arbitrate claims concerning unauthorized accounts opened by Wells Fargo. And the LAT reports that on […]
Takeaway: California Law Precludes Employer From Requiring Employee To Individually Arbitrate “Aggrieved Employee” Status While Preserving Right To Judicial Forum For Other Aspects Of Claim. Perez v. U-Haul Co. of California, B262029 (2/7 8/16/16) (Zelon, Segal, Garnett) shows the ingenuity of an employer who tried to escape the reach of Iskanian v. CLS Transportation […]
True, Mediation Conditions Precedent To Collecting Attorney’s Fees Are Strictly Interpreted – But Not Here, Where Commonsense Dictated Otherwise. Check out the September 13, 2016 post in California Attorney’s Fees, the blawg my colleague Mike Hensley and I contribute to, about Lamar Central Outdoor, LLC v. Hwang, Case No. B266070 (2d Dist., Div. 5 […]