It is generally understood, or at least it has been in the past, that plaintiffs prefer to avoid the application of the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”) and instead present their cases to juries. As such, plaintiffs have...more
Immediately following the issuance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New Prime v. Oliveira on January 15, 2019, we stated in a blog post that “even if an individual or group of workers is excluded [from arbitration]...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The second key trend from our 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report involves rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the past few years, the Supreme Court has issued a number of rulings that...more
US Supreme Court Issues Trio of Arbitration Decisions - During its 2018-19 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in three cases involving arbitration matters. These decisions, discussed further in our September 26,...more
A Massachusetts federal court just ruled that gig workers cannot escape arbitration provisions by claiming they are exempt transportation workers. The September 30 decision in Austin v. DoorDash marks the second win for gig...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 term was a busy one for arbitration, with the Court issuing rulings in three cases addressing questions of the reach and interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The Court has already...more
A federal appeals court decided last week that ride-share drivers engaging in interstate commerce while performing work for Uber should not be subject to the company’s arbitration agreement because of a recent Supreme Court...more
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of employment-related cases from the 2018-2019 Supreme Court term that just wrapped up was the number of unanimous decisions – seven of the eight rulings – were agreed upon by all of the...more
The Supreme Court’s October 2018-2019 term began with the highly politicized confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But despite some expectations that the new makeup of the Court would be more divided than the previous...more
Introduction - On January 15, 2019, Justice Gorsuch, the self-described textualist on the U.S. Supreme Court, authored the opinion of the Court in the matter of New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, interpreting the term “contracts...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In January, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that the Federal Arbitration Act’s (“FAA” or the “Act”) exclusion for transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce...more
The $100 million settlement announced Monday by a transportation company to resolve a long-running misclassification claim might be the direct result of a January Supreme Court decision, and might be a troubling harbinger of...more
Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a significant decision upholding the use of individual arbitration agreements that include class action waivers. The Epic Systems’ Decision provided clarity to...more
After the Supreme Court ruled a few weeks ago that independent contractors working “in interstate commerce” were exempt from arbitration pacts due to a broad interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (New Prime v....more
On January 15, 2019, the Supreme Court issued an important decision regarding the enforceability of certain arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, No. 17-340, the...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
In recent years, it has been an unerringly safe bet that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of the enforcement of arbitration agreements. But on January 15, 2019, the Court issued a rare decision bucking that trend in...more
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires courts to enforce private arbitration provisions contained in agreements between private parties. But the U.S. Supreme Court recently carved out an exception to the otherwise...more
While the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) broadly applies to a wide variety of employment and contracting arrangements, it does contain in Section 1 an exception excluding certain transportation workers from its coverage. ...more
In a series of decisions over recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in employment disputes over the objections of employees who claimed various legal reasons...more
My colleagues Andy Scott and Felix Digilov reported on last week’s Supreme Court decision that rejected a trucking company’s effort to force its drivers to arbitrate their wage and hour claims against the company, despite the...more
Last week, employees received a rare victory that punches a sizable hole in previous laws that supported allowing arbitration in place of litigation. Recently, a unanimous Supreme Court determined that the regulation does not...more
In the past two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court released two unanimous opinions regarding enforcement of arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer and White Sales, Inc., and...more
On January 15, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous 8-0 decision in the matter of New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira. Justice Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. ...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court delivered a decision that will have a substantial impact on business owners in the transportation industry. In New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, the Court ruled that a private company...more