Defendants’ Failure To Disclose Prohibitively Expensive Arbitration Fees To Low Income Plaintiffs Weighed Against Enforcement Of The Arbitration Provision. When 61 “primarily low-income mobilehome owners” sued Wildwood Mobile Home Country Club (“Westmont”), naturally Westmont moved to compel arbitration. After the trial court denied the motion, Westmont appealed. Unsuccessfully. Penilla v. Westmont Corporation, B262097 […]
How Will This Ultimately Play Out? In Mohamed v. Uber Technologies and Gillette v. Uber Technologies, Nos. 15-16178 and 16181 (9th Cir. 9/7/16), cases in which district court judge Edward M. Chen found arbitration clauses between Uber and its drivers to be unenforceable, the 9th Circuit panel has affirmed in part and reversed in […]
Arbitrators Allowed One Party To Speak And Did Not Allow Other Side Even A Limited Chance To Do The Same Or To Cross-Examine. One of the raps against arbitration is that arbitration proceedings lack due process. In Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. v. Liebhaber, No. B264619 (2/4 8/30/16) (Collins, Epstein, Manella), the Court of Appeal […]
Panel Majority Ties Mediation Privilege To Parties’ Expectations At The Time Of The Mediation, Not To Later Time When Federal Claims Were Dismissed. Timing can be everything. Where there are federal question claims and pendent state law claims present, the federal law of privilege applies. Agster v. Maricopa County, 422 F.3d 836, […]
Jost On Justice Poses The Question. In his August 28, 2016 post, Prof. Kenneth Jost suggests, as I did in my August 23, 2016 post about Morris v. Ernst & Young, that the split among the circuits concerning the enforceability of employment contract clauses requiring disputes to be resolved through individual arbitration is likely […]
Sour Wine To Drink? Miners panning gold by Anton Refregier at Rincon Annex Post Office located near the Embarcadero at 101 Spear Street, San Francisco, California. Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. 2012. Library of Congress. California Attorney’s Fees, the blawg that my colleague Mike Hensley and I have contributed to since 2008, has an […]
Consumers With Neanderthal DNA And A Bone To Pick With 23andMe Will Need To Bring Their Clubs To Arbitration. The Neanderthal man, member of the hunting race inhabiting central France in Mousterian times. Philip Brigandi, photographer. 1924. Library of Congress. Tompkins v. 23andMe, Inc., No 14-16405 (9th Cir. Aug. 23, 2016) (Ikuta, Trott; Watford, […]
Language In The Employee Handbook Undercut The Existence Of An Agreement To Arbitrate. When January Esparza sued her employer for sexual harassment and related causes of action, the employer petitioned to compel arbitration, based on the fact that Esparza had acknowledged receipt of an employee handbook, and the handbook mentioned that the employer’s […]
Judge Ikuta Dissents: “This decision is breathtaking in its scope and in its error . . . “ The issue decided in Morris v. Ernst & Young, No. 13-16599 (9th Cir. 8/22/16) is clearly framed by the majority and dissenting opinions, and almost certainly headed for Supreme Court review. In a majority opinion authored […]
The next three cases show that, notwithstanding the trend to uphold agreements to arbitrate, there are still plenty of situations in which our California Courts of Appeal will agree that arbitration should be denied or stayed, and allow litigation to go forward. Tran v. Integra LifeSciences Corporation, No. G051620 (4th Dist. Div. 3 8/18/16) […]