Delegation Of Threshold Issue To Arbitrator Must Be Unmistakably Clear. Mahram used Instacart to purchase groceries and later sued Ralphs (The Kroger Co.) for allegedly raising prices after applying a coupon, claiming violations under false advertising and unfair competition laws. Ralphs moved to compel arbitration based on an agreement between Mahram and Instacart, even […]
Reference To The URL For AAA Rules Is Not Clear And Unmistakable Evidence Of Delegation Of Arbitrability. In an employment-related disputed, employee Mondragon argued that an arbitration provision that did not cover PAGA claims to the extent possible excluded all PAGA claims from arbitration, whereas the employer argued that it was only intended to […]
The Supreme Court Does Not Decide Whether The Ninth Circuit's Decision Was Correct, Only Whether The Decision Was For The Court To Make. The parties "had executed two contracts: the User Agreement, which sent disputes about arbitrability to arbitration, and the Official Rules, which appeared to send disputes to California courts." Coinbase, Inc. v. […]
Judge Eric D. Miller Agrees Majority's Analysis, But Disagrees That The Ninth Circuit Rule Is Any Different From The Rule In Other Circuits. Abraham Bielski has already made law in his case against Coinbase, Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court held in Bielski's case that a district court must stay […]
Nesting dolls (Matryoshka dolls). Wikipedia. Published under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2, and any subsequent versions. We can analogize the next case to a nesting doll problem. The delegation clause in an arbitration agreement (Agreement) is a mini-agreement nested in the Agreement. The Agreement is nested in an employment contract, consumer contract, or […]
On-Line Gaming Was The Context For The Case. The world of on-line gaming presents challenges to companies wishing to bind players to arbitration. As our next case illustrates, gamers are likely to be treated as unsophisticated consumers with unequal bargaining power. Pavel Gostev v. Skillz Platform, Inc., A164407 (1/2 2/28/23) (Miller, Stewart, Richman). […]
No Evidence Of Signed Agreement. Bruno Fleming sued Oliphant Financial for allegedly violating the California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Oliphant unsuccessfully petitioned the trial court to compel arbitration. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's order denying Oliphant's petition to compel arbitration. Fleming v. Oliphant Financial, LLC, A165837 (1/1 1/31/23) (Devine, […]
Ambiguous And Unconscionable. The threshold question in Bernell Gregory Beco v. Fast Auto Loans, Inc., G059382 (4/3 12/14/22) (Moore, Bedsworth, Sanchez) was whether the court or the arbitrator should determine the issue of arbitrability. The arbitration agreement included a delegation provision stating that covered: "any dispute concerning the arbitrability of any such controversy or […]
Court Holds That Viking River Cruises Requires Enforcement Of Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreement. Judge Harutunian explains that the trial court "understandably" denied the employer's motion to compel arbitration based on a rule in California that "predispute agreements to arbitrate PAGA claims are unenforceable." He concludes: "We hold that this rule cannot survive the U.S. Supreme […]
At Play: Applicability Of Labor Code § 925 And California Code Of Civ. Proc. § 1981.4. The scenario in Jinshu "John" Zhang, Petitioner v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, Respondent; Dentons US LLP et al, real parties in interest, B314386 (2/8 11/9/22) (Grimes, Stratton, Wiley), while not exactly common, is also to be expected. […]