News & Analysis as of November 17, 2024

Arbitration Agreements

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Arbitration is a widely-used method for settling disputes between parties. During arbitration, parties submit their dispute to an impartial third person or party, usually chosen by the parties. Typically, parties to arbitration agree in advance to be bound by the arbitrator's decision. Arbitration is an alternative to litigation, but it shares many of the familiar features of litigation. Namely, parties to arbitration hold hearings before neutral decision-makers, present evidence and argue the merits of their position. Parties often choose arbitration due to its perceived advantages over litigation. Those perceived advantages include greater efficiency and flexibility, and lower costs. less -

Ninth Circuit Provides Long-Awaited Guidance on Mass Arbitration Provisions

Benesch on 11/15/2024

In the long-awaited newest chapter of case law discussing the validity and enforceability of arbitration clauses and class action waivers, the Ninth Circuit on October 28, 2024, dealt a setback, though not a fatal blow, to...more

Arbitration Clause Rendered Illusory and Unenforceable by Unilateral Amendment Clause, Says Virginia Federal District Court

Troutman Pepper on 8/21/2024

In a recent decision, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied a retailer’s motion to compel individual arbitration of a claim brought in a putative class action lawsuit. The complaint alleges that...more

Plaintiffs in California Putative Class Action Lose Numerous Challenges to Enforcing Arbitration, Barring Unclean Hands

Epstein Becker & Green on 7/9/2024

In Elijah Baer, et al. v. Tesla Motors, Inc., fifteen plaintiffs filed a putative class and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) representative action lawsuit against Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) alleging wage-hour violations of...more

Court Excludes Class Members with Binding Arbitration Agreements

McGlinchey Stafford on 6/21/2024

In an important decision regarding the size and potential scope of a putative class, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently granted a defendant’s motion to exclude from a class action all...more

U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Application of FAA Transportation Exemption

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 4/24/2024

On April 12, 2024, the United States Supreme Court ruled that an individual does not need to work directly in the transportation industry to be within the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) exemption for...more

Ninth Circuit Upholds Decision Compelling Arbitration Based on Terms of Use in Hyperlinks

Carlton Fields on 3/11/2024

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a decision compelling arbitration based on an arbitration provision in website “terms of use,” even though those terms were in a hyperlink....more

January 2024 California Employment Law Notes

Proskauer - California Employment Law on 1/26/2024

A Single Incident Of Harassing Conduct May Create A Hostile Work Environment - Beltran v. Hard Rock Hotel Licensing, Inc., 97 Cal. App. 5th 865 (2023) - Stephanie Beltran, a server at the Hard Rock Hotel in Palm...more

Enforcing Arbitration Delegation in the Ninth Circuit

Foley & Lardner LLP on 12/19/2023

On December 5, 2023, the Ninth Circuit in Bielski, et al. v. Coinbase, Inc., No. 22-15566 (9th Cir. 2023) concluded that federal courts can look to the parties’ agreement as a whole when determining whether the delegation...more

Class Action & MDL Roundup 2023 Q3 - Catching the Class Action Waive(r)

Alston & Bird on 12/19/2023

Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! This edition covers notable class actions from the third quarter of 2023. In this edition, a mistake is just a mistake, “99.99%” isn’t 100% clear, and faxes aren’t always...more

Ninth Circuit Sets Low Bar for Challenges to Delegation Clauses in Arbitration Agreements and Allows Expansive Review by District...

Womble Bond Dickinson on 12/11/2023

When parties are battling over whether a court should compel a putative class action to arbitration, the outcome often turns on who decides the “gateway” arbitrability issues of whether a valid arbitration agreement exists...more

Sixth Circuit Holds Validity of Employee’s Electronic Signature Creates Issue of Fact, Reverses Order Compelling Arbitration

Carlton Fields on 8/16/2023

In Bazemore v. Papa John’s U.S.A. Inc., the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the plaintiff’s appeal of an order granting the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint brought...more

The Long And Winding Road: Ninth Circuit Exempts Last-Leg Drivers From Arbitration Under The Federal Arbitration Act

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 8/14/2023

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit recently extended the scope of which transportation workers are exempt from arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). In Carmona Mendoza v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, – F.4th –,...more

Ninth Circuit Rules Domino’s Truck Drivers Exempt from FAA

Epstein Becker & Green on 8/4/2023

On July 21, 2023, a unanimous three-judge panel once again affirmed a California federal court’s ruling that the truck drivers who deliver ingredients from Domino’s Southern California Supply Chain Center to Domino’s...more

Supreme Court Eases the Ability for Employers to Appeal Denials of Motions to Compel Arbitration in Federal Court

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 7/6/2023

In Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, the Supreme Court of the United States resolved a circuit split over whether district courts must stay proceedings while an interlocutory appeal of a denial of a motion to compel arbitration is...more

Arbitration Provision Treated as Standalone Contract for Purposes of Determining Parties Capable of Compelling Arbitration

Carlton Fields on 2/3/2023

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision and compelled arbitration based on its determination that one of the litigants, Experian, was a party to the arbitration provision, despite the fact that...more

Second Circuit Again Considers if Bakery Goods Drivers Are Excluded Under the FAA Because They Are “Transportation Workers”. The...

BakerHostetler on 10/7/2022

While the Supreme Court’s opinion in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, 142 S. Ct. 1783 (2022), brought needed clarity to the analysis of the class of workers excluded as “transportation workers” by the residual clause of the...more

Third Circuit Rules on ‘Mind-Bending’ Arbitration Question

Morgan Lewis on 9/9/2022

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a precedential decision on what it called “the mind-bending issue of arbitration about arbitration.” Relying on an arbitration agreement between the plaintiff and...more

Missouri Supreme Court Holds Consumer Arbitration Agreements Enforceable

Stinson LLP on 7/18/2022

On Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation v. Kelly Donaldson and Robert Haulcy, No. SC99269 and Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation v. Christopher...more

Text, Context, and Canons: Inside a Unanimous Supreme Court Decision

Venable LLP on 6/13/2022

The end of the Supreme Court's term usually brings divided decisions. But in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, the whole Court agreed on both the result and the reasoning in a trim 11 pages....more

Supreme Court Resolves Whether an Airline Ramp Supervisor Falls Within the Transportation Worker Exemption of the FAA

BakerHostetler on 6/9/2022

For years courts have been struggling to determine the proper application of the Section 1 exemption of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). See 9 U.S.C. § 1. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has brought some clarity to the analysis....more

Supreme Court of the United States Issues Important Decision on the Federal Arbitration Act

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 6/7/2022

On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that airline cargo loaders are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) under the statute’s “transportation worker” exemption. In Southwest Airlines Co. v....more

Now Say That Five Times Fast! Eleventh Circuit Upholds Arbitration Clause Delegating Adjudication of Threshold Questions of...

Burr & Forman on 5/31/2022

On May 26, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion reversing the Southern District of Florida’s denial of the appellant’s motion to compel arbitration, therein finding that the district court erred in failing to apply...more

Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration Of Certain ERISA § 502(a)(2) Claims, Ruling That Employee Consent To Arbitration May Not Bind...

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog on 5/10/2022

In Hawkins v. Cintas Corp., No. 21-3156, __ F.4th __, 2022 WL 1236954 (6th Cir. Apr. 27, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that an arbitration clause contained in certain individual employment...more

A New Era of McGill Arbitration in California—Hodges v. Comcast

Foley & Lardner LLP on 2/4/2022

Recent decisions out of the Northern District of California and Ninth Circuit may reflect a new era of McGill jurisprudence. In McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 2 Cal. 5th 945 (2017), the California Supreme Court held on public...more

Tenth Circuit Finds Non-Signatory May Compel Arbitration Based on Equitable Estoppel

Carlton Fields on 1/21/2022

Defendant SemGroup Corp. and intervenor-defendant Cypress Environmental Management-TIR appealed an Oklahoma district court order denying their motions to compel arbitration. The plaintiff, Robert Ferrell, was a Cypress...more

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