Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. The Best Service Co., Inc., Case No. B253861 (2/5 Dec. 17, 2014) (Turner, Mosk, Kriegler) (published). In Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. The Best Service Co., Inc., the Court of Appeal dismissed defendant’s appeal of an order denying its motion to stay the action pending arbitration, because the stay […]
Court of Appeal Only Found Fee-Shifting Provision To Be Substantively Unconscionable. The trial judge, the Hon. Mary Ann Murphy, found the employer-employee arbitration Agreements to be unconscionable and unenforceable because JAMS rules were not referenced, a fee-shifting provision permitted an award of fees to the prevailing defendant on employee’s FEHA claims without factual findings […]
Fourth District, Division 3 Publishes To Distinguish Mansouri v. Superior Court. California Code of Civil Procedure, section 1281.2 requires that a party seeking to compel arbitration allege, “the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and that a party thereto refuses to arbitrate such controversy.” The question in Hyundai Amco America, Inc. […]
Famous Family, Simple Legal Principles. Though the opinion opens with a fanfare announcing, “George R. Hearst, Jr. . . scion of the wealthy Hearst family,” the facts and legal points are actually pretty simple. George and Susan Hearst married in 1998, and entered into a marital property agreement (MPA) in 2002, whereby Susan […]
Arbitration Provision Failed Armendariz Tests. Nelson v. Tucker Ellis, LLP is somewhat atypical, because it was the former attorney, rather than his former law firm, who “seized the bull by the horns”, initiating suit, and contending that the law firm released attorney Nelson’s privileged work product to other counsel, thereby interfering with his employment […]
Court Of Appeal Affirms Order Denying Policy Holder’s Petition To Compel Arbitration Of Appraisal Dispute. Despite countervailing considerations that favor arbitration, California courts continue to deny petitions to compel arbitration for the simplest of reasons: the dispute is beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement. Such was the case in Moghtader v. Travelers Commercial […]
Strong Policy In Favor Of Arbitration Yields To Court’s Independent Review Of What Parties Intended By Their Contractual Language. In Backflip Software, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., No. H040382 (6th Dist. Dec. 3, 2014) (Bamattre-Manoukian, Elia, Mihara) (unpublished), the Court concludes, based on its independent review of contractual language, the trial court did not err […]
Court Does Not Decide Whether Contractual Provision Limiting Arbitrator’s Power To Apply Definition Of “Prevailing Party” Other Than Found In Agreement Would Be Unenforceable As Violative Of Public Policy. Does an arbitrator who applies the statutory definition of “prevailing party” found in Civil Code Section 1717(b)(1), rather than than the definition the parties contractually […]
Justice Werdegar Concurs and Dissents. The California Supreme Court held today, “that when hearing an administrative appeal from discipline imposed on a correctional officer, an arbitrator may rule upon a discovery motion for officer personnel records, commonly referred to as a Pitchess motion.” Riverside County Sheriff’s Department v. Stiglitz, S206350 (Dec. 1, 2014) (Cordigan […]