It All Depends On What “Waiver” Means In United Health Centers Of The San Joaquin Valley, Inc. v. Superior Court of Fresno County, Case No. FO67763 (5th Dist. Aug. 25, 2014) (Gomes, Kane, Detjen), Dr. Jennifer Vradenburg-Haworth, the Real Party in Interest, sued her employer UHC in a wrongful termination case, was compelled to […]
Mark D. Gough Of The Cornell University School Of Industrial & Labor Relations Has Studied The Outcomes Mark D. Gough has published in the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law the results of a study of some 700 employment discrimination cases – and the results are striking, whether looked at from the perspective […]
A Progression: From Shrink Wrap To Browsewrap To Clickwrap Contracts Above: Shrink wrapped helicopters to be shipped to Iraq. US Navy photo, Bart Jackson. Wikimedia Commons. In a case that will be important to e-commerce merchants, and on-line consumers, a Ninth Circuit panel holds that Barnes & Noble’s website provided insufficient notice of […]
Popping Affirmative Defenses Without Adequate Notice Surprised Plaintiffs The employer here tried to gut plaintiff’s efforts to certify a class of 53 individuals in a wage dispute by producing evidence that “44 of those individuals had settled their claims or agreed to arbitrate their claims against the defendant.” The employer was successful in the […]
Fair Play and Safe Workplaces Executive Order Is Announced July 31, 2014 One of the impactful judicial trends in recent years has been the expanded use of arbitration in employment disputes. Counter to that judicial trend is the recent Executive Order announced July 31, 2014 by the White House. Section 6 of the […]
Opinion Addresses Substantive Versus Procedural Arbitrability – And Who Gets To Decide Kurt Knutsson, aka Kurt the CyberGuy, and his company, Woojivas, Incorporated, filed claims against KTLA, LLC, a television broadcaster, for breach of contract, misappropriating CyberGuy’s name and likeness, unfair business practices, and age discrimination. The company brought a motion to compel arbitration […]
Court Agreed With Trial Court That Parties’ Arbitration Agreement Expressly Excluded Statutory Claims From The Arbitration Obligation. On July 14, 2014, I blogged about Rebolledo v. Tilly’s, Inc., in which the Court of Appeal, 4th District, Division 3, affirmed the trial court’s order denying an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of an employee’s putative […]
In Which An In Pro Per Defendant/Appellant Takes On Adam Sandler’s Corporation . . . HP, a company owned by Adam Sandler, employed McDonald as a nanny for his children. When her employment ended, she entered into a confidential settlement agreement, and as a result, $48K was paid to her, and $32K was paid […]
Plaintiff Alston, the founder of GB, brought a private equity firm into GB in exchange for the firm’s investment in GB to help build the company. Fast forward — Alston is terminated by GB as a director, and sues GB and two executives, alleging misrepresentation, declaratory relief, defamation, interference, and wrongful termination. Because Alston […]
Permeated With Unconscionability, Agreement Did Not Require Severance. Mr. Ryan, an employee in the construction industry, claimed that he was fired in a retaliatory move by his employer. The employer petitioned to compel arbitration. The trial court denied the request, finding the mandatory employment arbitration agreement contained unconscionable provisions, and refusing to sever […]