California courts continue to scrutinize cases in which hospitals and nursing homes seek to enforce arbitration provisions. The medical settings often involve patients who are old, quite sick (or both), hurried admission processes, and urgency. These cases remind me of a story my law school torts professor told, about taking his daughter, who had […]
A Case To Read On The Limits Of The Delegation Doctrine. Neal Moritz, the film producer and industry executive associated with the Fast and Furious (FF) franchise, sued Universal City Studios LLC and others for breach of an oral contract and promissory estoppel after the distributor allegedly removed him as lead producer of the […]
How The Issue Presented Was Framed Made All The Difference. View of a frame-maker's workshop circa 1900. Wikipedia article "Picture frame." As putative members of the so-called Guerra class action, Bautista and Garcia signed settlement agreements containing an arbitration clause and […]
Elders In Both Cases . . . Arbitration And An Elder Abuse Act Case. Dougherty v. Roseville Heritage Partners, et al., C087224 (3rd Dist. 3/30/20) (Krause, Murray, Hoch) is another of the many elder care facility cases in which the enforceability of an arbitration clause is at issue. Here, the trial court denied the […]
The Details Here Make The Difference . . . Lacayo v. Catalina Restaurant Group Inc., et al., E069833 (4/2 8/1/19) (Miller, Fields, Menetrez) provides an in-depth discussion of the appealability of orders granting individual arbitration and delegating the issue of the availability of a class action suit to an arbitrator to decide. The plaintiff, […]
Opinion Explains How Contract And Arbitration Agreement Are Treated As Separate Agreements. Jackpot Harvesting, Inc. v. Applied Underwriters, H044953 (6th Dist. 3/28/19) (Danner, Greenwood, Grover), provides a detailed discussion of whether the court or the arbitrator has authority to enforce an arbitration agreement, and how the concept of "severability" helps the analysis. […]
First SCOTUS Opinion Authored By Justice Kavanaugh Is Unanimous. "Under the Federal Arbitration Act, parties to a contract may agree that an arbitrator rather than a court will resolve disputes arising out of the contract." The question presented in Henry Schein, Inc., et al. v. Archer and White Sales, Inc., No. 17-1272 (S. […]
Federal Arbitration Act Cases Pending Before SCOTUS Present Issues of Interpretation Of FAA, And Who Decides Gateway Issues. Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales Inc., scheduled to be argued in November, presents as an issue whether judge or arbitrator decides the gateway issue of arbitrability. The general rule is that the […]
Does Exemption In Section 1 Of The FAA For Workers Engaged In Interstate Commerce Apply To Independent Contractors? And Who Decides? We posted earlier about this case on February 26, 2018. The issues presented are: (1) Whether a dispute over applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is an arbitrability issue […]
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 […]