The Eight Circuit has rejected a plaintiff’s claim that an arbitration clause in a retainer agreement she signed with a law firm after receiving a call from a purported agent of the firm informing her of a purported...more
12/11/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Ethics Breach ,
Jury Trial ,
Legal Ethics ,
Legal Representatives ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Professional Liability ,
Retainer Fees ,
Transvaginal Mesh ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Waiver of Rights
A year ago, we wrote about a rapidly emerging area of insurance litigation in Connecticut: crumbling foundations. As a quick recap, tens of thousands of homes in northeastern Connecticut built over a span of more than 30...more
12/9/2019
/ Construction Defects ,
CT Supreme Court ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Homeowners ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Policy Exclusions ,
Policy Terms ,
Property Damage ,
Property Insurance ,
Real Estate Market
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas compelled arbitration in a putative Fair Labor Standards Act class action based on language in a “notice to employees” that put the plaintiffs on notice that they...more
11/19/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Binding Arbitration ,
Contract Terms ,
Electronic Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Illusory Contracts ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Unconscionable Contracts
The U.S. District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands recently compelled arbitration after concluding that a personal guaranty incorporated an arbitration agreement from an underlying contract and rejecting various...more
Arbitration over whether a South Korean company or a Bermuda company headquartered in Hong Kong owns a geostationary satellite in light of an order from a South Korean regulatory agency can be complicated. The Second Circuit...more
10/9/2019
/ Administrative Authority ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Business Operations ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Judgments ,
Motion to Vacate ,
Public Policy ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Sale of Assets ,
Satellites ,
Statutory Violations ,
Transfer of Assets
The Southern District of New York declined to decide arbitrability questions after the arbitration agreement at issue incorporated the rules of the American Arbitration Association, which include a rule that arbitrators...more
9/19/2019
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Copyright ,
Jurisdiction ,
License Agreements ,
Motion to Compel ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restraining Orders ,
Software Developers ,
Stays ,
The Copyright Act ,
Waivers
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently granted a creditor’s request to compel arbitration over a plaintiff’s argument that the arbitration agreement he had signed was void as a result of a bankruptcy court discharging...more
9/18/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Credit Reports ,
Creditors ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Loan Agreements ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Regulatory Violations
The Southern District of New York denied class certification to a group of plaintiffs seeking to collectively sue a group of insurers over purported regulatory approval violations regarding workers’ compensation policies. The...more
In July 2018, we wrote about an interesting decision out of the Southern District of New York in which a court rejected a claim that an exclusion did not apply because a recycling bin on wheels was a “vehicle” under the...more
The Southern District of New York has concluded that an insurer’s threat to terminate a reinsurance agreement if the other insurer to the agreement did not comply with its obligations did not terminate the agreement or give...more
The Fifth Circuit has joined a number of other circuits and concluded that whether class arbitration is appropriate under the terms of a particular arbitration agreement is a “gateway” issue to be decided by courts, not an...more
A district court has granted a motion to compel arbitration based on an arbitration clause in an agreement sent via text message and agreed to via a reply text. ...more
7/18/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
EFTA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Notice Requirements ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Text Messages ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unconscionable Contracts
The Eighth Circuit recently vacated a judgment confirming an arbitration award after concluding that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant....more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama has compelled arbitration despite a former employee’s claim that the arbitration clause in the policy at issue was unconscionable under the circumstances related to...more
The Ninth Circuit recently denied a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to overturn a district court’s decision compelling arbitration. The petition principally argued the arbitration clause was inconspicuous because it...more
The Southern District of New York has rejected a petition to vacate an arbitration award on the basis that the arbitrators failed to disclose allegedly material information.
...more
6/6/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Arbitrators ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Financial Institutions ,
Motion to Vacate ,
UBS
In a closely watched case, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales has given reinsurers a win with respect to reinsurance claims related to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases....more
6/4/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Asbestos ,
Asbestos Litigation ,
Contract Terms ,
Good Faith ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Mesothelioma ,
Reinsurance ,
Reversal ,
Toxic Exposure ,
UK
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently denied attempts by reinsurers to avoid a suit by moving to have the claims against them dismissed or, in the alternative, seeking to compel arbitration or stay the...more
A New York Supreme Court recently explained the conditions that qualify and disqualify a proposed umpire. National Union Fire Insurance and Enstar could not agree on an umpire for their asbestos-claim-related arbitration. ...more
Foreign arbitration awards must generally be upheld in the United States under treaty obligations. Upholding a foreign award requires that there actually be an arbitration award, however. For that matter, it requires an...more
4/25/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Choice-of-Venue ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fishing Industry ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Workplace Injury
A New York federal court recently confirmed an arbitration award related to the alleged theft of more than $100 million from a Luxembourg company, SLS Capital. SLS’s liquidator in bankruptcy court then initiated a FINRA...more
Don’t try to confirm an arbitration award when there is still arbitration work to be done. Relying on Seventh Circuit precedent, the Northern District of Illinois concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to...more
The California Court of Appeal (Fourth District) recently rejected a dissatisfied litigant’s attempt to relitigate an arbitration decision that went against it to the tune of more than $18 million....more
The Tenth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s decision partially compelling arbitration. Jesse Romero took out three title loans with TitleMax of New Mexico, Inc. Romero used his third loan to pay off his second loan...more
If you’re a football fan, you probably know that the NFL, despite its continued success, has had to address a range of problems and scandals over the past few years. ...more