Podcast - How Did We Get Here?
Navigating Mass Arbitration: New Rules and Strategies — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Mass arbitration continues to be a significant and evolving issue in the legal landscape, particularly for consumer, healthcare, and employment disputes. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) recently released data from...more
Mass arbitration is posing significant challenges for businesses, as it creates a new battleground in dispute resolution with the potential to overwhelm companies with a flood of simultaneous claims. Consumer-facing companies...more
For businesses that use consumer and workplace arbitration agreements designating JAMS as their arbitration administrator, there is an important new development: JAMS has announced new Mass Arbitration Procedures and...more
For more than a decade, companies have benefited immensely from the United States Supreme Court decision of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), which upheld a company’s right to compel consumers into...more
Online retailers routinely include arbitration clauses in the terms of service for their website, seeking to send any consumer claims to arbitration and to eliminate a consumer’s right to file a class action lawsuit....more
For the past few years, following the machinations of mass arbitrations has been like watching a tennis match. First one side hits a volley, then another returns, and on-and-on with the opposing sides continually stuck in...more
Mass arbitration is a recent phenomenon created by enterprising plaintiffs as a direct result of a string of Supreme Court decisions that endorsed the use of class action waivers in arbitration agreements and precluded...more
The District of Massachusetts’s recent decision in Fairfield v. DCD Auto. Holdings, Inc., No. 22-cv-11977, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109463 (D. Mass. June 26, 2023) serves as a key reminder for businesses not only to have...more
The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court just issued the latest significant ruling in the mass arbitration space, a litigation trend that has been gaining notoriety over the last year and a half....more
Plaintiff Jacob McGrath filed a nationwide Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) action ultimately involving approximately 4,000 food delivery drivers for DoorDash Inc. alleging that the drivers, known as “Dashers,” were...more
Takeaway: The concept of class arbitration has endured stiff headwinds. In Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varella, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019), the Supreme Court ruled that a party cannot be required to participate in a class arbitration...more
The plaintiffs filed a class action against Domino’s, alleging that the company’s franchise agreement violated federal antitrust law as well as state law. ...more
The plaintiffs filed a class action against Domino’s, alleging that the company’s franchise agreement violated federal antitrust law as well as state law. Domino’s moved to compel arbitration, and the plaintiffs opposed on...more
The United States Supreme Court established that questions of arbitrability are presumptively for a court unless the parties clearly and unmistakability manifest their intention (i.e, agreement) that such issues should be...more
Some may have wondered whether mentioning the rules of an administrative organization, such as the American Arbitration Association (AAA), in an arbitration agreement could have a legal impact. It can. A number of decisions...more
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Epic Systems v. Lewis that class action waivers in arbitration agreements between employers and employees are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. ...more
Many employers strongly prefer arbitration to litigating with their employees in court. Employers often believe—and the Supreme Court has agreed—that arbitration of employment disputes has many benefits, including potential...more
It’s no secret that many employers have employees sign arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers in the hopes of avoiding the massive wage-hour lawsuits that have become so prevalent in the past two...more
In reversing a New York federal court, the Second Circuit found the arbitration was within the arbitrator’s authority in binding absent class members to class proceedings because, by signing the operative arbitration...more
As this blog has previously discussed, the availability of class arbitration has been significantly restricted after a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. However, we have also noted that express preclusion of class...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has pointed out consistently in recent years that the relatively new construct of “class arbitration” is very different from your uncle’s classic bilateral arbitration. (“Class arbitration” signifies...more
The legal profession as a whole is familiar with the basic principles of both class action litigation and bilateral arbitration. Class arbitration is a less common form of dispute resolution that the courts have debated for...more
The Eleventh Circuit has held that, absent express language to the contrary in the arbitration agreement itself, whether class arbitration is permitted under an arbitration agreement selecting American Arbitration Association...more
Recent circuit court decisions have strategic implications for companies facing potential class arbitration claims. Key Points: - The Eighth and Ninth Circuits both found in separate cases that the authority to...more
In Oliveira v. New Prime, Inc., No. 15-2364 (May 12, 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit confronted two arbitration-related questions of first impression in that Circuit. In the case, Dominic Oliveira had...more