Patent Infringement: Successful Litigation Stays the "Course"
A federal appeals court recently refused to let a mortgage broker send its former employee’s disability discrimination lawsuit to arbitration, stating the company waived its right to arbitration when it actively participated...more
In Marino v. CVS Health, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found defendant CVS Health’s “arbitration of workplace legal disputes policy” and related arbitration agreement compelled arbitration of...more
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
Evenskaas v. California Transit Inc. reversed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s denial of an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of a former employee’s wage and hour class action. The trial court had concluded that the...more
A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court addressed a circuit split regarding the propriety of arbitration-specific procedural rules. In support of adopting such rules, nine of the eleven federal circuits...more
The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Morgan v. Sundance eliminates a longstanding rule requiring a plaintiff to establish they would be prejudiced by arbitration to prevail when arguing that a defendant waived...more
A unanimous Supreme Court held May 23 that a party’s waiver of its arbitration right does not require showing prejudice to an opposing party, because the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) prohibits arbitration-specific rules....more
A former driver for UberEats alleged that Uber misclassified drivers as independent contractors as part of a PAGA action. Uber sought an order to compel arbitration of the question of whether the plaintiff was an independent...more
In Garcia v. Haralambos Beverage Co., the California Court of Appeal embraced the adage “time kills all deals” to conclude that an employer waived its right to arbitrate the wage-hour claims at issue in the case by, among...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The data and analysis from workplace class action rulings, case filings, and settlements showed that change is the new normal in 2020-2021. As many pro-business precedents continued to roll out and take...more
On November 26, 2019, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard B. Ulmer ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) might not apply to Uber drivers who are engaged in interstate commerce while driving passengers to or...more
Estella Trammell was an at-will employee of AccentCare. She challenged the district court’s order requiring her to arbitrate a pay dispute with AccentCare. The district court held that there was an enforceable arbitration...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 a decision that could have far-reaching implications for parts of the gig economy, the United States Supreme Court has held that the Federal Arbitration Act bars courts from compelling arbitration with respect to both...more
Last month, this blog discussed New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira, a then-pending case before the Supreme Court that presented the question of whether arbitration agreements between trucking companies and independent contractor...more
On September 27, 2018, the Kentucky Supreme Court in Northern Kentucky Area Development District v. Snyder held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt a Kentucky statute, KRS § 336.070(2), barring employers...more
On the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis, which held that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) does not bar class or collective action waivers in arbitration...more
On the heels of the Supreme Court's decision in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis, which held that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) does not bar class or collective action waivers in arbitration agreements, the 6th...more
Arbitrator or Judge? California Supreme Court Weighs in - Why it matters - Yet again, the California Supreme Court considered arbitration in the context of an employment agreement, this time reflecting on whether a...more
The Seventh Circuit recently became the first federal appellate court to say that employers can’t prevent class/collective actions through waivers in mandatory arbitration agreements, holding that such waivers interfere with...more
A Nov. 24, 2015, decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the Carolinas, about an arbitration provision included in an employee handbook serves as a warning to employers to...more
Legislative Update - Governor Brown recently signed into state law the following employment law bills (among others): SB 358—Referred to as the California Fair Pay Act, this law is directed at closing the pay...more
On June 25, 2012 and July 7, 2014, we reported on the issue of waiver of representative claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). In Iskanian v. CLS Transportation of Los Angeles, LLC, the...more
On September 28, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision in the long-awaited case of Sakkab v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc. (No. 13-55184, D.C. No. 3:12-cv-00436-GPC-KSC) (“Sakkab”). The Court...more