Employer Did Not Waive Its Right To Arbitrate Wage Claim And So Trial Court’s Order Denying Employer’s Motion To Compel Arbitration Is Reversed Fremont Automobile Dealership, LLC, A137266 (1/2 July 23, 2014) (Richman, Kline, Brick) (unpublished) addresses the still somewhat murky relationship between the interaction of an arbitration agreement and the statutory right […]
Also, Burdens Upon The Employee Were Not So Great As To Make Arbitration Provision Unconscionable In our next case, the Court of Appeal, in a published opinion, reversed the trial court’s denial of a petition to compel arbitration. Galen v. Redfin Corporation, A138642 (1st Dist. Div. 1 July 21, 2014) (Dondero, Margulies, Becton) […]
Iskanian Decision Yields Opinion Of Four, Plus Justice Chin, Concurring, Plus Justice Werdegar, Concurring And Dissenting In a much-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court has ruled that a state’s refusal to enforce a class action waiver on grounds of public policy or unconscionability is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), but that […]
Substitution Of New Named Plaintiff To Represent Class Didn’t “Restart The Clock”. In Jacoby v. Islands Restaurants, L.P., No. B250886 (2nd Dist. Div. 5 June 20, 2014) (Turner, Kriegler, Mink) (unpublished), the Court of Appeal ruled that substantial evidence supported the trial court’s finding that defendant employer had waived its right to arbitrate. […]
DOA: Neither Appellant Nor Respondents Were Able To Discover Copy Of A Written Agreement To Arbitrate It was undisputed that in the ordinary course of business, respondents required all employees to sign an arbitration agreement, and it was not clear why the appellant, Mr. Corselli “might have been an exception to this rule.” Apparently, the […]
Failure To Translate Relevant Contractual Provisions Into Spanish For Spanish-Speaking Employees Elevated This Case “To A High Degree Of Procedural Unconscionability” Car wash employees brought a putative class action against their employer for wage and hour violations. The trial court held the arbitration agreement was unconscionable and refused to enforce it. Employer appealed. Carmona […]
Second District, Division 2 Opinion Reversing Trial Court’s Order Denying CarMax’s Motion To Compel Arbitration Is Now Certified For Publication On February 27, 2014, I posted about Casas v. CarMax Auto Superstores California LLC, Case No. B246392 (2nd Dist. Div. 2 Feb. 26, 2014) (Johnson, Chaney, Miller). At that time, the opinion, filed February […]
Court Acknowledges That Private Attorney General Laws “May Be Severely Undercut By Application Of The FAA” On March 12, at the end of my previous post, I commented “we are still in a somewhat fuzzy area regarding FAA preemption of California statutory rights to file a court action – especially in those instances where […]
And Employer Failed To Sustain Burden Of Proving That California Statutory Right Of Employee To Avoid Arbitration Of Unpaid Wages Claim Was Preempted By Federal Arbitration Act Francis Capital Management LLC (FCM) appealed from an order denying its motion to compel Lane, a former employee, to arbitrate all his employment claims against FCM. Lane […]
Unilateral Right To Alter Or Terminate Agreement Does Not Necessarily Make It “Illusory” Employee Casas sued his employer CarMax, alleging wrongful termination and related causes, prompting CarMax to move to compel arbitration. However, the trial court denied CarMax’s motion to compel, buying its argument that the arbitration agreement was “illusory” because the Dispute […]