A Rhode Island federal district court recently refused to enforce a stand-alone class action waiver in the consumer plaintiff’s automobile lease agreement on the ground that it violates state public policy. The court in...more
10/27/2023
/ Auto Lease ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Leasing Act (CLA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion To Strike ,
Rhode Island ,
Waivers
Last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses that...more
9/19/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Petition for Rulemaking ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Proposed Regulation
Earlier last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses...more
9/18/2023
/ Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Statutory Authority
We previously wrote about a Ninth Circuit appeal dealing with the use of bellwether procedures to resolve mass arbitration claims brought by thousands of customers against Verizon Wireless. That appeal remains pending and is...more
8/15/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Bellwether Verdicts ,
California ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Motion to Compel ,
Oral Argument ,
SCOTUS ,
Sherman Act ,
Verizon
Professor Jeff Sovern responded to our blog criticizing his proposal for a new CFPB arbitration rule by asserting that his proposed rule is not substantially the same as the prior CFPB rule that Congress vetoed and,...more
After denying the defendants’ petitions for panel and en banc rehearing in the Blair v. Rent-a-Center appeals, the Ninth Circuit has granted their motions to stay the issuance of the Court’s mandates for 90 days pending the...more
1/31/2020
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
En Banc Review ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Judicial Review ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
The McGill Rule
On January 17, 2020, the Ninth Circuit denied the defendants’ petitions for panel and en banc rehearing in the Blair v. Rent a Center appeals, setting the stage for possible U.S. Supreme Court review of the California Supreme...more
1/21/2020
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
En Banc Review ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Preemption ,
Public Policy ,
The McGill Rule
A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter”...more
10/10/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Contract Terms ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financing ,
Loan Agreements ,
Loans ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions ,
RICO ,
Small Business ,
Statutory Violations ,
UDAP ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Usury
We recently posted a discussion concerning the petitions for rehearing filed in the Blair v. Rent-A-Center appeals pending in the Ninth Circuit which raise the issue of whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts...more
The Supreme Court held last year in Epic Systems v. Lewis that mandatory arbitration agreements requiring employees to arbitrate claims against their employer on an individual—rather than on a class or collective—basis are...more
8/25/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, we published a Legal Alert discussing the petitions for rehearing filed in the Blair v. Rent-A-Center appeals which ask the Ninth Circuit en banc to overturn a panel decision holding that the Federal Arbitration...more
In an important ruling that further narrows the circumstances in which class arbitration will be permitted, the Supreme Court today held that under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA)...more
Relying on the California Supreme Court's 2017 decision in McGill v. Citibank, class action plaintiffs increasingly have sought to circumvent class action waivers in arbitration agreements by filing lawsuits in California. ...more
According to a forthcoming article by Professors Andrea Chandrasekher and David Horton in the California Law Review, more consumers and their lawyers would take advantage of individual arbitration if states enacted...more
Having lost the battle to prohibit class action waivers in consumer arbitration agreements, consumer advocates have embarked on a new crusade....more
8/30/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Bylaws ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Charters ,
Corporate Governance ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Preemption ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Litigation
Having lost the battle to prohibit class action waivers in consumer arbitration agreements, consumer advocates have embarked on a new crusade....more
8/29/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Bylaws ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Charters ,
Corporate Governance ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Preemption ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Litigation
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis was extended by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week in Gaffers v. Kelly Services, Inc. ...more
An Executive Order issued by Washington Governor Jay Inslee on June 12, 2018 seeks to rebuff the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Epic Systems LLC v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (May 21, 2018)...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that employers can lawfully require employees to resolve employment disputes through individual arbitration rather than by joining other employees in class or collective actions....more
5/23/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that should further clarify the circumstances in which class arbitration can be required. The question presented in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela is "[w]hether the...more
The CFPB is scheduled to publish a notice in tomorrow’s Federal Register removing the agency’s final arbitration rule from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). ...more
11/22/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Register ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
Two weeks after President Trump signed H.J. Res. 111, the joint resolution passed by the House and Senate disapproving the CFPB arbitration rule, the CFPB has formally acknowledged Congress’ override of the rule under the...more
11/15/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
In a blog post last week, we noted that there had been no official statement from the CFPB about Congress’ override of the CFPB’s arbitration rule, which President Trump signed on November 1....more
11/13/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Richard Cordray
Yesterday marks one week since President Trump signed H.J. Res. 111, the joint resolution passed by the House and Senate disapproving the CFPB arbitration rule....more
11/9/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by industry groups in a Texas federal district court against the CFPB to overturn the final arbitration rule have filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal....more
11/3/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration