Courts Have Been Unforgiving In Interpreting An Unambiguous Statute. See CCP § 1281.98. "A statute gave Milan Cvejic the option to get out of arbitration if Skyview was tardy in paying its arbitration fees. Skyview was tardy in paying its arbitration fee. Cvejic was entitled to get out." Milan Cvejic v. Skyview Capital, LLC, […]
Missing The 100-Day Deadline For Seeking Vacatur Of An Arbitration Award Was Not The End Of The Story Here. It is not possible to improve on the California Supreme Court's summary of the case and its holding: "Law Finance Group, LLC, prevailed in an arbitration against Sarah Plott Key and filed a petition […]
Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act Fee Provisions Prevailed Over Contract Fee Provisions. Oscar Wilde. c1882. N. Sarony. Library of Congress. Oscar Wilde is credited with the paraprosdokian, "One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing." Our next case provokes similar sentiments. Surjit P. Soni v. […]
Darby v. Sisyphian, LLC, B314968 (2/2 1/26/23) (Hoffstadt, Ashmann-Gerst, Chavez), Helpfully Lays Out Deadlines To Confirm, Vacate, Or Correct Award. Sisyphus. Titian. Public Domain. Wikipedia. Aisha Darby, an exotic dancer, arbitrated wage and hour claims with her employer Sisyphian, LLC. After robust advocacy in arbitration, she eventually received an award of $105,109.75 — less […]
Once The Arbitrator Determines All Issues Necessary To Resolve The Essential Dispute, The Arbitrator's Ruling Constitute A Final Award Under § 1283.4. The arbitrator issued an award, labeled neither final nor interim, on April 3, 2020, denying employee a finding of liability in her favor, and denying employee and respondent employer attorney's fees, on […]
Deadline To Move To Vacate Arbitration Award Is Jurisdictional. Cover, First Edition of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. 1852-53. Locked in sororicidal probate litigation over the disposition of mom and dad's estate, Sarah Plott Key prevailed at first, entitling her to one-third of her parents' estate which, at the time "was equivalent to about $20 […]
Years Earlier, The Parties Had Agreed To The Appointment Of A Particular Arbitrator. Brothers Harry and Ted Soussos fought over control of family business interests. Harry moved to compel arbitration, and Ted timely objected. The arbitrator refused to recuse himself, and Harry obtained an award in his favor. The rub here is that several […]
What A Difference A Day Makes . . . Attorney Soni and his client entered into mandatory fee arbitration, and thirty-three days after receiving an award of $2.50 (two dollars and fifty cents) in his favor, the attorney filed a new action in the superior court. Ruling the 30 day deadline to file […]
Case Contains Rich Discussion Of Arbitration, PAGA, Federal Preemption, And Divergence Of State And Federal Law. Plaintiffs sued their former employer, alleging wage and hour violations and seeking civil penalties under California's Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (PAGA). Employer successfully petitioned to arbitrate, with one exception: the trial court held that under Iskanian v. […]
Opinion Clarifies How To Perform Calculation. In Stevens v. Jiffy Lube, No. 17-15965 (9th Cir. 12/27/18) (McKeown, Fletcher, Bybee), the panel affirms the district court's denial of a petition to vacate an arbitration award, on the grounds that the petition was one day late. In doing so, it clarifies how to calculate the […]