Author: calmediation

Miscellaneous: Reference Rot — Plague and Partial Solutions

January 31, 2015 · Miscellaneous

Damn Those Hyperlinks That Rot In Cyberspace ! Jill Lepore, Professor of American History at Harvard, has written a fascinating article in the January 26, 2015 edition of the The New Yorker. Her subject, which interests and plagues every blogger, is archiving the Internet before the information vanishes into cyberspace. If you have […]

Arbitration, Employment, Public Policy, Standard Of Review: Cal Supreme Court Rules Arbitrator May Have Erred About Employee’s Unwaivable Statutory Rights, But Valid Alternative Ground Existed For Dismissing Employee

January 29, 2015 · Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Public Policy, Arbitration: Standard of Review, Arbitration: Waiver

California Supreme Court Leaves Employer’s “Honest Belief Defense” Unsettled. This case fits under the rubric “no harm, no foul.” Plaintiff Richey sued his employer AutoNation, Inc., for terminating his employment after he went out on sick leave, thereby violating his right to reinstatement under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). While on sick […]

PAGA: Under Settled Principles Of Stare Decisis, Fourth District, Div. 2 Follows California Supreme Court Opinion In Iskanian, Not SCOTUS Opinion In Concepcion

January 27, 2015 · Arbitration: PAGA

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 […]

Employment: After Rehearing, Court Of Appeal Again Reverses Trial Court’s Order Denying Employer’s Motion To Compel Arbitration

January 21, 2015 · Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Enforceability

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: SCOTUS Punts On Iskanian, Denying Cert Petition

January 20, 2015 · Arbitration: PAGA, Pending Cases

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), […]

PAGA: Iskanian Compels Reversal Of Order Dismissing Plaintiff’s Representative Claims–And The PAGA Issue Is Presented In Cert Petition To The United States Supreme Court

January 15, 2015 · Uncategorized

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 […]

Arbitration, Class, Gateway Issues, Employment: A Rift In Court Of Appeals Decisions As To Whether Judge Or Arbitrator Decides If Agreement Allows Class-Wide Arbitration

January 14, 2015 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Delegation, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Gateway Issues

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 […]

Arbitrator’s Refusing To Issue A Subpoena And Limiting Arbitration Hearing To One Day Did Not Provide Basis For Vacating Award.

January 14, 2015 · Arbitration: Section 1286.2 Vacatur

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 […]

Vacating Arbitration Award: Plaintiff Waived Request For Continuance When Her Counsel Stipulated To Proceed With Arbitration Without Live Testimony

January 13, 2015 · Arbitration: Section 1286.2 Vacatur

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, […]

Arbitration, Deadlines, Vacatur: Court of Appeal Rejects Carrier’s Argument That Arbitrator Exceeded Her Powers And That Award Was Untimely.

January 11, 2015 · Arbitration: Deadlines, Arbitration: Section 1286.2 Vacatur

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 […]