Alleged Juvenile Taxidermy Thieves Are Spared A Criminal Record, Thanks To Mediation Occupational portrait of taxidermist Martha A. Maxwell with animal specimens, palette, and rifle. October 27, 1876. Library of Congress. When I saw the following headline from the March 12, 2014 edition of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, I knew I […]
Court Acknowledges That Private Attorney General Laws “May Be Severely Undercut By Application Of The FAA” On March 12, at the end of my previous post, I commented “we are still in a somewhat fuzzy area regarding FAA preemption of California statutory rights to file a court action – especially in those instances where […]
And Employer Failed To Sustain Burden Of Proving That California Statutory Right Of Employee To Avoid Arbitration Of Unpaid Wages Claim Was Preempted By Federal Arbitration Act Francis Capital Management LLC (FCM) appealed from an order denying its motion to compel Lane, a former employee, to arbitrate all his employment claims against FCM. Lane […]
Court Would Not Compel Arbitration Here Where The Beneficiary Had Not Sought The Benefits Of The Trust Instrument, But Rather Challenged Its Validity Pamela McArthur v. Kristi McArthur, A137133 (1st Dist. Div. 5 March 11, 2014) (Bruiniers, Jones, Needham) is a case arising out of an inharmonious “sister act.” The scenario is not […]
Case Has Nice Discussion Of Those Elusive Little Differences Between CCP 1008(a) and (b). In ongoing litigation against Ralphs Grocer Co. and The Kroger Co. for Labor Code violations (defendants), the trial court denied defendants’ renewed petition to compel arbitration filed pursuant to Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. section 1008(b). Defendants appealed. Brown v. […]
Majority Opinion Distinguishes Between Who Decides Arbitrability Of Claims And Who Decides Claims-Processing Requirements On February 26, 2014, I posted that it was time to watch for a decision in BG Group, PLC v. Republic of Argentina,__ S.Ct. __ , 2014 WL 838424. The case was decided on March 5, 2014. Following an […]
Contract Claims For Breach Of Settlement Agreement Are Not Subject To Anti-SLAPP Motion, But Fraud Claims Based On Oral Representations Are Subject To Anti-SLAPP Motion At issue in Praetorian Ins. Co. v. The Dunnon Law Firm, F066590 (5th Dist. March 3, 2014) (Hill, Gomes, Pena) (unpublished) was whether prelitigation settlement negotiations, resulting in a […]
Trial Court’s Finding of Unconscionability Was Rejected On February 27, 2014, I blogged about Casas v. CarMax Auto Superstores California LLC, Case No. B246392 (2nd Dist. Div. 2 Feb. 26, 2014) (Johnson, Chaney, Miller) (unpublished), a case in which the California Court of Appeal overturned the trial court’s denial of Carmax’s motion to compel […]
And So The Court Ducks Having To Decide A “Close” Question Our next case involves a dispute between minority and majority shareholders, and how to value the minority shares for purposes of a buyout by the majority. Minority shareholders argued that the arbitrator should have valued the shares under Operation Agreement requiring appraisal “without […]
“Yellow Flags” In Arbitration Clause Functioned As Friendly Warnings, And Did Not Make Clause Unconscionable Plaintiff/Respondent Boese, pursuant to a subscription agreement, invested several hundred thousand dollars with Couch Oil & Gas, Inc., and sued for securities violations. After the trial court denied Couch Oil’s petition to compel arbitration on the ground that the […]