Category: Arbitration: Class

Arbitration/Appealability/Vacatur/FAA/Class Action: Ninth Circuit Holds Non-Appealability Clause Relating To Arbitration Award Allocating Fees Among Class Counsel Attorneys Runs Afoul Of the Federal Arbitration Act

December 18, 2013 · Arbitration: Appealability, Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Federal Arbitration Act, Arbitration: Section 1286.2 Vacatur

At Stake: Allocation of $28M in Attorney’s Fees Among Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Wal-Mart Wage and Hour Litigation The scenario: Plaintiffs’ class counsel prosecute wage and hour class action against Wal-Mart, plaintiffs’ counsel quarrel concerning proper allocation of $28M fee award, and the fee dispute is submitted to “binding, non-appealable arbitration” before an eminent arbitrator, […]

Unconscionability/Preemption/Class/Consumers: Ninth Circuit Upholds Denial Of Arbitration In Two Cases

December 18, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Consumers, Arbitration: Federal Arbitration Act, Arbitration: Unconscionability

Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher is the author of two recent Ninth Circuit opinions affirming district court denials of motions to arbitrate against class action plaintiffs. Like his mother, the distinguished late Ninth Circuit Judge Betty Binns Fletcher, W. Fletcher was born in the State of Washington, and the next two cases involve Washington […]

Employment: Fourth District, Div. 3 Upholds Trial Court’s Order That Employee Must Arbitrate Individual Claims And Dismisses Class Claims Without Prejudice

December 6, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Enforceability, Arbitration: Unconscionability, Arbitration: Waiver

Court Summarizes Fractured Opinion About Gentry Rivera v. Hilton Worldwide, Inc., Case No. G047644 (4th Dist. Div. 3 Nov. 26, 2013) (unpublished) is one more wage and hour case in which the employee is ordered to arbitrate individual claims and the Court upholds dismissal of class claims without prejudice. The Court finds that […]

Arbitration/Employment/Class Action/Waiver: Fourth District, Division 2 Reverses Trial Court’s Denial Of Petition To Compel Arbitration Of Employee Claims

November 1, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Federal Arbitration Act, Arbitration: Waiver

The Court Of Appeal Also Directs Entry Of Order Granting Employer’s Petition To compel Arbitration On An Individual Basis Employee Arroyo’s complaint alleged his employer engaged in wage and hour practices that violated the California Labor Code. The trial court denied the employer’s petition to compel arbitration, but this denial was reversed on appeal […]

Arbitration/Class/Employment: Motion To Compel Arbitration Was Premature Before Class Was Certified Where Named Plaintiff Was Not Party To Arbitration Provision

November 1, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment

Before Certification of Class, Court Lacked Personal Jurisdiction Over Putative Class Members Who Signed Arbitration Agreement Prospective lead plaintiff Nguyen filed putative class action complaint for alleged wage and hour violations against his former employer Inter-Coast International Training, Inc. Of the 220 individuals in the putative class, only 59 had signed an arbitration agreement […]

Arbitration/Employment/Unconscionability/Class: Fourth District, Division 3 Reverses Trial Court’s Denial Of Petition To Arbitrate, Finding Insufficient Evidence Of Unconscionability

August 25, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Unconscionability

But Trial Court Was Correct That Class Arbitration Cannot Be “Inferred” From Silence On The Issue The trial court judge denied Tenet Health Care Corporation’s motion to compel arbitration of a wage-and-hour lawsuit brought by a hospital nurse. Tenet appealed and obtained a reversal. McElroy v. Tenet Health Care Corporation, G047300 (4th Dist. […]

Arbitration/FAA/Class Actions: Supreme Court Holds Arbitrator Does Not Exceed Powers By Deciding That Class Action Was Available

June 15, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Delegation, Arbitration: Federal Arbitration Act

Impact of the Case Likely to Be Limited Because of Parties’ Agreement In Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter (Sup. Ct. June 10, 2013) (Kagan, J., author, with Thomas, J., joining in concurrence by Alito, J.), the Supreme Court held that an arbitrator does not “exceed his powers” under section 10(a)(4) of the Federal […]

Arbitration/3rd Party Beneficiaries/Equitable Estoppel: 9th Circuit Holds District Court Correctly Concluded Defendant Could Not Invoke Arbitration Clause As 3rd Party Beneficiary or Through Equitable Estoppel

May 20, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Equitable Estoppel, Arbitration: Third Party Beneficiaries

Defendant Admitted It Did Not Enter Into Contract With Student To Provide Him With Debt Relief Services Student loan debt is an area of our economy ripe to generate cases on arbitration and class action. See for example my April 12, 2013 post about Kilgore v. Keybank, No. 09-16703 (9th Cir. April 11, 2013), […]

Arbitration/Employment/Unconscionability: Second District, Division 8 Tanks Employment Arbitration Provision On Basis of Unconscionability

March 23, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Unconscionability

Main Problem is One-Sidedness of Arbitration Provision Compton v. Superior Court, Case No. BC448343 (2nd Dist. Div. 8 March 19, 2013) (published) starkly presents the conflicting views of judges confronted with deciding whether an employment arbitration provision is unconscionable. Leasa Compton appealed the order granting her former employer, American Management Services’s (AMS’s) petition […]

Arbitration/Employment/Waiver/FAA: First District, Div. 1, Affirms Judgment Compelling Employee To Arbitrate, Alone, With Macy’s Department Stores, Inc.

January 20, 2013 · Arbitration: Class, Arbitration: Employment, Arbitration: Federal Arbitration Act, Arbitration: Record, Arbitration: Waiver

Court of Appeal Is Skeptical About Gentry, But Avoids Addressing Gentry Factors, Because Record Was Lacking Macy’s Department Store’s Flagship location in Manhattan, New York. Carol M. Highsmith Collection. Library of Congress. The issue of the enforceability of class action waivers and compulsory arbitration in employment disputes is before the California Supreme […]