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 […]
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 […]