Court Concludes Trial Court Correctly Denied Petition To Compel Employee To Arbitrate His PAGA Claims. On January 20, 2014, we blogged that SCOTUS had denied petitioner’s writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court (petition for cert filed Sept. 22, 2014, No. 14-341). That denial of cert is already having consequences, for in […]
Same As Before – Only This Time A Third Judge Signs On To The Opinion I blogged about this very same case in a post on August 27, 2014. So I was puzzled at first as to why another published opinion was issued following rehearing on January 20, 2015. Cruise v. Kroger Co., B248430 […]
PAGA Issue Will Continue To Percolate Through Federal Courts. The United States Supreme Court today denied the petition for a writ of certiorari brought by CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, No. 14-341. Left intact, for now, is the California Supreme Court’s holding in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (2014), […]
Is A Class Action Waiver Different From A Representative Action Waiver? On January 7, 2015, I posted that on September 22, 2014, a cert petition was filed in the SCOTUS to consider the PAGA/FAA preemption issue in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (2014). This is how the issue […]
Fourth District Says When Agreement Is Silent, Judge Decides; Second District Says Arbitrator Decides – So The California Supreme Court Will Have To Decide. GATEWAY. Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. 2013. Library of Congress. When the arbitration agreement is silent, who gets to decide whether the arbitration agreement allows for class arbitration? Judge or […]
Arbitrators Can Make Mistakes And Here The Record Didn’t Even Show A Mistake Had Been Made. A major attorney’s fees dispute between a law firm and its client hinged on when mediation ended, for the parties agreed that the law firm would receive a five percent contingency fee for a successful mediation, and a […]
Failure To Postpone Arbitration Hearing Upon Sufficient Cause May Be Grounds For Vacating Award – But Not When Request For Continuance Is Waived ! Plaintiff sought to postpone an arbitration hearing in a wrongful death/medical malpractice action, because she was studying abroad, and counsel’s medical condition adversely affected his cognitive status and performance. However, […]
Lanois v. Employers Fire Insurance Company, Case No. B251403 (2/1 Jan. 9, 2015) (Chaney, Rothschild, Johnson) (unpublished) involved an underinsured motorist insurance carrier’s challenge to an arbitration award, on the grounds that the award was rendered untimely, and that the arbitrator exceeded her powers by adding interest to a 950K award, after the […]
Unconscionability Challenge To Identical Arbitration Provision In Industry-Drafted Automobile Sales Contract Is Still Pending In Sanchez Before California Supreme Court. Our next case is a fine example of ad hoc justice, for the Court of Appeal concludes that “on balance”, the arbitration provisions in a standard automobile industry sales contract are not unconscionable. A […]
Court of Appeal Recognizes It Is Bound By Iskanian, Until SCOTUS Resolves Validity Of PAGA Waivers. Montano v. The Wet Seal Retail, Inc., B244107 (2/4 Jan. 7, 2015) (Epstein, Willhite, Manella) (published) is the latest case to follow the holding in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (2014), that waiver […]