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) […]
The Federal Arbitration Act and the California Arbitration Act Diverge On Whether Interim Arbitration Awards Can Be Vacated. In the aptonymically-named case, Judge v. Superior Court, No. B267694 (2/7 8/15/16) (unpublished), the Court of Appeal considered whether the trial judge had property vacated an arbitrator’s ruling on clause construction requiring class arbitration of plaintiff’s […]
Court Of Appeal Rejects Waiver, Estoppel And Forfeiture Arguments Made By Lessor Who Failed To Timely Exercise Right To “Baseball Arbitration” In Rental Dispute. Miss Myrtle Rowe holding a baseball bat. March 14, 2010. Library of Congress. “Baseball arbitration” takes its name from salary arbitration in Major League Baseball, in which the […]
Enforceability Of Arbitration Provisions Is Uncertain, Threatening To Upset The Settlement Applecart. Joel Rosenblatt, reporting for Bloomberg on August 18, 2016, explains why San Francisco District Court Judge Edward Chen’s rejection of a class-settlement between Uber and its drivers may now give Uber the upper hand: the Ninth Circuit is poised to rule on […]
Policy Of Encouraging Parties To Resolve Disputes Without Resort To Litigation Supports Liberal Construction Of Statutory Language. “This case presents the question of whether the Davis-Stirling Act, and particularly the fee-shifting provision of section 5975, subdivision (c), applies to an action to enforce a settlement agreement arising out of a mediation conducted pursuant to […]
The Evidence Supports Mediation’s Selling Points. The Maryland Judiciary has commissioned research to be conducted by independent researchers on the efficacy of mediation with small claims-type cases. The research claims to be “the only research in the country that compares the attitudes and changes in attitudes of participants who went through ADR to an […]
Can Kentucky Require That Nursing Home Resident’s Power of Attorney Reference Arbitration In Order To Effectively Bind Attorneys-In-Fact To Arbitrate Wrongful Death Cases? – Or Does Federal Arbitration Act Preempt State Requirement? Above: Nurse training. Nov. 1942. Fritz Henle, photographer. Library of Congress. At the beginning of the week, we reported that SCOTUSBlog’s […]