Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: “Accidental Arbitration” -- A New Theory that Would Rein in Consumer Arbitration Clauses and the Scope of the FAA
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: A Discussion of Industry and Consumer Perspectives on Mass Arbitration
California Employment News: The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
Podcast: California Employment News - The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
#WorkforceWednesday: NLRB Focuses on Severance Agreements, Supreme Court Opens Overtime to HCEs, Ninth Circuit Rejects CA's Mandatory Arbitration Ban - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS Rules on PAGA, Fifth Circuit Rules on COVID-19 Under WARN, Illinois Expands Bereavement Leave - Employment Law This Week®
California Employment News: US Supreme Court “Viking River” Decision Brings PAGA Relief for CA Employers
#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC COVID-19 Charges Surge, NYC’s Pay Transparency Law, SCOTUS Considers PAGA - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: New Law on Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Claims, Cyber War Ramps Up, Salaried Nonexempt Status - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law Now VI-114-Banning Arbitration of Sexual Harassment/Assault Claims
Update and Discussion on Legal and Practical Issues
DE Under 3: OFCCP Contractor Portal & Request for Comments for Functional Affirmative Action Programs (FAAPs)
Employment Law This Week®: FAA Arguably Preempts California Law, New CA Employment Laws for 2020, CA Consumer Privacy Act Amended
A recent Fourth Circuit decision extends the trend of cases refusing to use federal statutes to invalidate arbitration agreements waiving the right to bring class claims in federal court. The statute at issue in Espin v....more
Recent court decisions have raised the bar for enforceable arbitration provisions in website Terms of Service (ToS) agreements. E-commerce businesses must ensure their website architecture and ToS design meet current legal...more
Bilateral arbitration is under increasing attack. While businesses evaluate whether and how to update their arbitration clauses in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's October decision in Heckman v. Live...more
On March 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration in two class-action lawsuits. The decision potentially has far-reaching implications for the...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its first published opinion addressing mass arbitration on February 28, 2025, following the court’s decision in Heckman v. Live Nation Entertainment, et al., 120 F.4th 670...more
On February 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a petition to compel individual arbitration against Starz Entertainment, LLC. The court held that the plaintiff, who...more
For the past decade, many courts have found class action waivers in consumer contracts to be valid and enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. However, recently, the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas in Pittsburgh...more
For over three decades, arbitration has offered an efficient and cost-effective mechanism for resolving consumer disputes. Companies across a variety of industries, including telecommunications, retail and the gig economy,...more
In the long-awaited newest chapter of case law discussing the validity and enforceability of arbitration clauses and class action waivers, the Ninth Circuit on October 28, 2024, dealt a setback, though not a fatal blow, to...more
On October 28, 2024, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling in Heckman v. Live Nation, finding Live Nation’s Ticketmaster arbitration agreement unconscionable and therefore unenforceable based on their terms...more
Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in Smith v. Spizzirri, 601 U.S. 472 (2024) and Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, 144 S. Ct. 1186 (2024) provide important guidance for companies utilizing arbitration clauses in their...more
Agreements to submit disputes to arbitration are commonplace, with parties attempting to avoid the time, cost, and publicity involved in litigating disputes in court. To facilitate these aims, the Federal Arbitration Act (the...more
On February 10, 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Ending Force Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (the “Act”, available here: H.R. 4445). President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law shortly. ...more
Courts have struggled through the years when considering the enforceability of mandatory class action waivers and arbitration provisions contained within Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) plans and other...more
Seven plaintiffs filed a putative class action against a car rental company and its subsidiary for allegedly unauthorized charges incurred when the plaintiffs rented cars from the company....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Among other things, AB 51 makes it unlawful for employers to impose arbitration agreements on employees as a condition of employment, even if employees are permitted to opt out. AB 51 was quickly challenged...more
As we wrote here, United States District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the Eastern District of California wrote a brief “minute order” explaining that she was issuing a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of...more
On February 7, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued an order supporting its injunction of Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), an expansive anti-arbitration law enacted in October, which was...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: After granting a temporary restraining order days before AB 51 was to go into effect, the Eastern District of California granted a motion for a preliminary injunction on January 31, 2020. An order detailing...more
On December 30, 2019, a federal judge in the Eastern District of California entered an order temporarily halting the enforcement of AB 51, California’s new anti-mandatory arbitration law. AB 51, which was set to go into...more
As employers with operations in California had feared, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 51, which effectively outlaws mandatory arbitration agreements with employees – a new version of a bill that prior Governor Jerry...more
Seyfarth Synopsis. On Thursday, September 5, 2019, the Legislature passed AB 51. This bill would ban mandatory arbitration agreements with respect to claims under the Labor Code and the Fair Employment and Housing Act while...more
Since when does silence in a contract speak louder than words? The United States Supreme Court will soon answer this question in deciding whether an arbitration agreement between an employer and its employees can authorize a...more
While the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has often found that state limitations on arbitration agreements are not in conflict with the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), a recent ruling there confirms that...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