Employee's Claims Arose Before He Signed Arbitration Agreement. Is an arbitration agreement enforceable when the employee's claim arises before he signs the arbitration agreement? Yes, says the Court of Appeal in Franco v. Greystone Ridge Condominium, et al., G056559 (4/3 8/27/19) (Fybel, Aronson, Thompson). In this case, "[t]he parties' arbitration agreement is […]
Majority Rejects State Law Rule That Ambiguous Contracts Are Interpreted Against The Drafter Because . . . Frank Varela, an employee of Petitioner Lamps Plus, Inc., sued Lamps Plus because a hacker tricked Varela's employer into disclosing tax information about 1,300 employees. Mr. Varela was understandably miffed after a fraudulent income tax return was […]
Choice-Of-Law Provision Is Interpreted To Exclude Special Rules Limiting The Authority Of Arbitrators Where The Federal Arbitration Act Governed The Agreement. California Labor Code section 229 provides that wage disputes "may be maintained without regard to the existence of any private agreement to arbitrate." In Bravo v. RADC Enterprises, Inc., B289506 (2/8 3/29/19) (Wiley, Grimes, […]
Language Of Arbitration Agreement Was Sufficient To Require Arbitration, But . . . . In Salgado v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc., B285756 (2/6 2/26/19) (Gilbert, Yegan, Tangeman), the trial court denied employer's motion to compel arbitration, on the grounds that "Defendants have failed to demonstrate that the arbitration agreement applies to a suit that […]
Under Armendariz Framework, Court Finds Parties' Arbitration Agreement Is Unconscionable. Constance Ramos, "an experienced litigator and patent practitioner with a doctorate in biophysics" petitioned the Court of Appeal to vacate superior court Judge John Stewart's order granting the motion of her erstwhile employer, Winston & Strawn, to compel arbitration of her employment/FEHA dispute. […]
Different Handbook Versions Seen As Negligent Or, At Worse, Deceptive. This case involved interesting PAGA waiver and severability issues under a very specific factual setting fraught with confusion. The situation went this way: Employer, during the employment of plaintiff hourly employee in Ventura, adopted a policy requiring arbitration of legal claims arising from […]
Appellate Court Accepted Delegation Of Arbitrability Gateway Determination To Arbitrator, But Found Uber’s Arbitrability Assertion Was “Wholly Groundless” Because Dispute Was Patently Beyond The Scope of Parties’ Arbitration Agreement. Smythe v. Uber Technologies, Inc., Case No. A149891 (1st Dist., Div. 3 June 8, 2018) (published) (Siggins, J., concurred in by McGuiness, Acting P.J. (retired […]
This Case Is For Grammar Afficionados; Or, What A Difference A Comma Makes. Only and exclusive photo of the Vestris as it went down. Fred Hansen, photographer, active 1928. Library of Congress. Mr. Yang, a seaman, died when the fishing vessel he worked on sank because of inadequate repairs and […]
Defendant Seeking To Compel Arbitration Had Argued That Claim To Be Submitted To Arbitration Accrued Before Rule Changed. This case presents a somewhat unusual situation, in that the Court of Appeal had to construe an arbitration agreement that was not directly between the parties. Instead, the parties independently agreed to participate in an […]
Court Ducks Ruling On The Enforceability Of Agreement To Arbitrate False Claims Claims, Saying It Is Only Ruling "On A Rather Unremarkable Textual Analysis." An interesting issue exists as to whether qui tam claims, brought by a private party (the "relator" or "private attorney general") are arbitrable. The argument against arbitrability is that […]