Who Pays for Mediation?
When parties plan to resolve disputes by arbitration, there are several key considerations regarding procedure. In the third of a multi-part series, we look at two key features to consider when drafting (and applying) your...more
The FAA preempts California’s Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.97, which requires employers to pay arbitration fees within 30 days of the due date or return the case to court, a state appellate panel has ruled....more
Arbitration agreement enforcement continues to take up California court space. Recently, a wave of cases highlights for restaurant and food service industry and other employers the importance of timely payment of arbitrator...more
In 2019, California enacted Senate (SB) Bill 707, a law codified as California Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281.98 and 1281.99, that automatically deems an employer’s failure to pay fees required for the commencement or...more
A recent complaint against plaintiffs’ firm Zimmerman Reed directly challenges the law firm’s mass arbitration tactics and alleged “weaponization” of a California privacy statute. The complaint comes as arbitration...more
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
California employers should be extremely cautious about timely paying arbitration fees or could pay the price – waiving their right to arbitrate and having to proceed in court....more
You’ve taken the right steps. You prepared and rolled out an enforceable arbitration agreement to your employees. Not surprisingly in California, you were sued. The Plaintiff, by force or voluntarily, agreed to arbitrate. You...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the latest court to require a company to pay millions of dollars in fees to adjudicate mass arbitrations. Judge Harry D. Leinenweber compelled Samsung...more
In the spirit of the season, we are using our annual "12 days of the holidays" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on California employers. On this second day of the holidays, my labor and employment...more
In response to the increased use and enforcement of class and collective action waivers, plaintiffs’ attorneys are now relying on a new strategy to gain leverage over businesses. More specifically, they have started to...more
Recently, we wrote here about a federal court order requiring DoorDash to conduct more than 5,000 individual arbitrations under the terms of its mandatory arbitration agreements, with each arbitration to address claims that...more
It’s no secret that many employers have employees sign arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers in the hopes of avoiding the massive wage-hour lawsuits that have become so prevalent in the past two...more
The California Legislature and Governor Newsom have passed a sizable list of new laws governing the workplace in 2020. Employers are, once again, advised to evaluate their workplace rules and practices to insure they keep...more
As 2019 draws to a close, employers in California have a busy new year ahead of them with expanded legal obligations, including significant new legislation regarding independent contractor status and mandatory arbitration...more
The California Legislature enacted a number of new laws for 2020 that will affect California businesses. Below we discuss a few of the most notable employment laws that go into effect in the New Year. Companies with a...more
• Numerous new California laws going into effect on January 1, 2020, will impact employers and employees. • The most significant laws include a new employee classification law, extension of the statute of limitations for...more
A decision by a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on October 17, 2019, in Rachel A. Page v. GPB Cars 12, LLC d/b/a North Plainfield Nissan et al. (link to: opinion), stands as a critical warning...more
In our previous blog we wrote about California’s Assembly Bill 51, which largely impacts arbitration agreements by prohibiting employers from requiring employees or applicants for employment to agree to arbitrate claims for...more
When it comes to paying your arbitration fees in whole and on time, the stakes for California employers just got more serious. Under legislation just signed by Governor Newsom, a drafting party that fails to pay arbitration...more
The California Chamber of Commerce is encouraging its members to send letters to California Governor Gavin Newsom urging him to veto California SB 707, which was passed by the state’s Assembly and Senate and is currently...more
With the Epic Systems case broadly supporting employers’ rights to use arbitration agreements with class waivers, what is now emerging is the result of the necessary trade-off....more
There has been a lot of buzz about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision about arbitration, Epic Systems Corp v. Lewis. It looks like employers can now avoid class actions by having their employees sign arbitration...more
In this episode of OnRisk, Carolyn Branthoover and Sarah Turpin talk about the increasing frequency of arbitration clauses in insurance policies, the enforceability of arbitration agreements in both the U.S. and in the UK,...more
Most arbitrations, and all commercial arbitrations, are creations of contract, and courts are generally required to enforce an arbitration agreement as they would any other contract. Therefore, the terms of the arbitration...more