On July 8, we published a blog about a landmark 7th Circuit opinion involving mass arbitration: Pauline Wallrich v. Samsung Electronics America, Incorporated. In that opinion, the Court dismissed a lawsuit against Samsung...more
We previously wrote about an Illinois federal district court order requiring Samsung to pay about $4 million in arbitration fees in connection with 35,000 individual arbitration demands filed as part of a “mass arbitration”...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has held unanimously in Smith v. Spizzirri that when a district court finds that a lawsuit involves an arbitrable dispute and a party has requested a stay of the court proceedings pending arbitration,...more
Our special guest is Professor Richard Frankel of Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and the author of a recent article on mass arbitration. In this episode, we first discuss what mass arbitration is, how it...more
In a recent unpublished memorandum opinion in a putative class action, Carpenter et al. v. Opportunity Financial, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld an arbitration clause in an agreement governing...more
After several years of refusing to adopt special rules applicable in mass arbitration proceedings, JAMS announced that it has issued Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines and a Mass Arbitration Procedures Fee Schedule...more
In connection with the petition to ban pre-dispute consumer arbitration agreements pending before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “forced arbitration,”...more
4/16/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Financial Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process
We previously wrote about a Ninth Circuit appeal taken by Verizon Wireless, Inc. after a California district court judge held that its arbitration agreement, which required mass arbitration disputes to be resolved by multiple...more
Recently, 93 members of Congress (all Democrats) signed a letter in support of the pending Petition for Rulemaking filed by consumer advocacy groups in September that would prohibit pre-dispute consumer arbitration clauses...more
12/19/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Financial Contracts ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Petition for Rulemaking ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration
Recently, Professor Sovern replied to our blog post that commented on the letter that he and 160 other law academicians submitted to the CFPB in support of the pending Petition for Rulemaking that would prohibit pre-dispute...more
We previously reported and released a podcast episode on comments that we and Professor David Sherwyn of Cornell University submitted in opposition to the Petition for Rulemaking filed by a number of consumer advocacy groups...more
12/7/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Contract Disputes ,
CRA ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Contracts ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rulemaking Process
We previously blogged about an Illinois federal district court order requiring Samsung to pay about $4 million in arbitration fees in connection with 35,000 individual arbitration demands filed as part of a “mass...more
Our special guest is David Sherwyn, Professor of Law at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. In Sept. 2023, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would...more
Currently, California trial court proceedings are automatically stayed when a party appeals an order denying a motion to compel arbitration. However, on October 10, 2023, Governor Newsom signed California Senate Bill No. 365...more
Last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses that...more
9/19/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Petition for Rulemaking ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Proposed Regulation
Alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), approximately 50,000 Samsung customers filed individual arbitration demands with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) pursuant to an...more
Professor Jeff Sovern recently blogged about the FTC’s June 2023 revisions to its Endorsement Guide. The Guide helps advertisers and endorsers make sure that their advertising using endorsements or testimonials is truthful...more
Professor Jeff Sovern, who recently joined the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law faculty, has recently blogged about a forthcoming Study by academicians at other institutions that will be published in...more
We previously wrote about a Ninth Circuit appeal dealing with the use of bellwether procedures to resolve mass arbitration claims brought by thousands of customers against Verizon Wireless. That appeal remains pending and is...more
8/15/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Bellwether Verdicts ,
California ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Motion to Compel ,
Oral Argument ,
SCOTUS ,
Sherman Act ,
Verizon
Last week, Professor Jeff Sovern of St. John’s University School of Law published a blog post discussing a new empirical study by Roseanna Sommers, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, dealing...more
In January 2023, a federal district court in Texas dismissed Michael v. Opportunity Financial, LLC, a putative class action filed in June 2022 claiming that fintech Opportunity Financial, LLC (OppFi), not its out-of-state,...more
We previously blogged about Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that individual employee claims under California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) are subject to...more
7/21/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Article III ,
CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Uber ,
Viking River Cruises ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that an appeal of the denial of a motion to compel arbitration automatically stays lower court proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal. The decision in Coinbase,...more
6/26/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Automatic Stay ,
Coinbase ,
Coinbase Inc v Bielski ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Griggs v Provident Disc Co ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Motion to Compel ,
Online Platforms ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays
Our response to Professor Sovern’s article about arbitration opt-outs and so-called “dark patterns” prompted a reply in which he poses two “challenges”: (1) “prove that opt outs benefit consumers by telling us how many...more
For the past decade, Professor Jeff Sovern has criticized companies for including opt out provisions in their consumer arbitration clauses, even though such provisions give consumers freedom of choice by allowing them to...more