On the 100th anniversary of the Federal Arbitration Act, it is worth recalling that the law was enacted in 1925 in response to what the U.S. Supreme Court later called, in its 2011 opinion in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion,...more
Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., No. 21-328: Does the arbitration-specific requirement that the proponent of a contractual waiver defense prove prejudice violate this Court’s instruction in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S....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
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
In a widely anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision today in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis; Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris; and National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc., upholding...more
Welcome news for many employers rolled out of Washington, D.C. earlier this morning. The Supreme Court has ended a long-running debate over the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class action waivers in the...more
Assuming Judge Gorsuch's confirmation, the Court will add a Justice with extensive commercial litigation experience, a particular expertise in antitrust and securities law, and a track record on the bench that demonstrates a...more
As we reported last year, in October 2015 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published an outline of proposals that would limit the use of arbitration provisions in contracts for consumer financial products. On May 5,...more
The Restoring Statutory Rights Act of 2016, sponsored by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, was sent to congressional committee on February 4, 2016 for consideration. The bill would place restrictions on companies’ use...more
Over the last decade, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a string of opinions with profound implications for the enforceability of arbitration provisions and class action waivers in consumer contracts. These decisions, the most...more
The sudden death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States, who served on the Court for over 30 years, has touched off a heated political debate over the appointment and consideration of...more
In 2014, we blogged about a California state appellate court decision invalidating the arbitration clause in DIRECTV’s consumer contracts. We found that California decision to be noteworthy because it seemed to fly in the...more
On December 14, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court applied its landmark Concepcion decision and reversed a California appellate court’s ruling that an arbitration clause containing a class arbitration waiver was unenforceable under...more
The United States Supreme Court recently reversed a decision by the California Court of Appeal wherein the state court refused to enforce a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement. The Supreme Court enforced the class...more
Facing yet another issue involving the arbitration of consumer disputes, the United States Supreme Court on December 14, 2015 held that a class action waiver clause was valid even when the contract incorporated state law...more
In DIRECTV v. Imburgia, the Supreme Court reversed the California Court of Appeal, which held that a contractual class arbitration waiver was unenforceable under California law, even though the arbitration provision at issue...more
In DirecTV v. Imburgia, No. 14-462, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 7999 (December 14, 2015) the United States Supreme Court reversed a California Court of Appeal decision interpreting, and invalidating, an arbitration clause containing a...more
On December 14, 2015, the United States Supreme Court considered a contract provision preventing classwide arbitration and providing that, “[i]f the law of your state would find this agreement to dispense with class...more
In DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia et al., the Supreme Court bolstered the preemptive power of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), once again overturning a state court’s holding that an arbitration agreement was unenforceable due...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
This is the second post in our series “The Supreme Court Preview,” - California state and federal courts have a rocky history with the U.S. Supreme Court, as the highest court in the land has repeatedly reversed the...more
On October 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is considering two rulemaking proposals that would severely limit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer financial service...more
As we reported in this space late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740, 1745 (2011), tilted the scales toward federal power in the field of arbitration, preempting...more
The U.S. Supreme Court returned to familiar territory last week in DirecTV Inc. v. Imburgia (argued Oct. 6, 2015): the enforceability of an arbitration clause in a consumer contract containing a class action waiver. But...more
On October 11, 2015, Governor Brown vetoed Assembly Bill No. 465. AB 465 was one of the most closely watched, controversial employment related bills passed by the California Legislature in recent memory. Understandably,...more