Nearly a century ago, and recognizing the courts’ historic hostility toward arbitration agreements, Congress, followed shortly by the California Legislature, adopted laws intended to “favor” arbitration. In recent decades,...more
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration filed by the plaintiff in the matter. The court noted that arbitration “can be waived in a variety of circumstances, including...more
The use of arbitration clauses and agreements is not infrequent, forcing federal and state courts to address the enforceability of such agreements on numerous grounds. Courts have created variants of federal procedural rules,...more
As litigation costs continue to explode, more and more businesses have been including arbitration clauses in contracts with employees and customers. These clauses, which frequently include class action waivers, allow...more
The United States Supreme Court recently resolved a circuit split regarding when a party has waived its contractual right to arbitrate by participating in litigation prior to seeking to arbitrate a dispute. In Morgan v....more
Many contracts these days, including employment contracts, have provisions requiring that disputes be arbitrated rather than filed in a court. Nevertheless, a party to such an agreement will often file a lawsuit in court, and...more
Believe it or not, our Supreme Court justices can unanimously agree on some things. For example, all nine justices were on board to resolve a circuit split regarding waiver of an arbitration agreement...more
Employers who wish to arbitrate disputes with their employees should assert the right to arbitrate promptly—a recent Supreme Court decision has made it easier for employees to show that an employer’s delay constitutes a...more
On May 23, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, decided Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., No. 21-328, in favor of an employee who sued her employer, a Taco Bell franchisee, for wage theft. The Court concluded that...more
A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court addressed a circuit split regarding the propriety of arbitration-specific procedural rules. In support of adopting such rules, nine of the eleven federal circuits...more
In the recent case of Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court declined to enforce an arbitration provision after the employer delayed too long in moving to compel arbitration. Resolving a split amongst federal courts...more
This term, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has authored a pair of opinions related to arbitration. The first of these decisions, Badgerow v. Walters, 20-1143, 142 S. Ct. 1310 (2022) came down on March 31, 2022, where...more
Resolving an issue over when a party has waived their right to arbitrate, the United States Supreme Court recently granted plaintiff’s a major victory, holding that litigants are no longer required to show prejudice when...more
The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Morgan v. Sundance eliminates a longstanding rule requiring a plaintiff to establish they would be prejudiced by arbitration to prevail when arguing that a defendant waived...more
Takeaway: In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., --- S. Ct. ----, No. 21-328, 2022 WL 1611788 (May 23, 2022), the Supreme Court rejected the arbitration-specific rule requiring a finding of prejudice for a waiver of the right to...more
A unanimous Supreme Court held May 23 that a party’s waiver of its arbitration right does not require showing prejudice to an opposing party, because the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) prohibits arbitration-specific rules....more
Litigators who defend cases brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), particularly ‘collective actions” alleging wage-and-hour violations, often have been able to counter, or even sometimes support, allegations...more
In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., decided May 23, a unanimous Supreme Court addressed the standard for determining whether a party has waived its right to arbitrate a controversy by first engaging in litigation. Overruling...more
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Morgan v. Sundance that litigants are no longer required to show prejudice when opposing a party’s delayed attempt to compel arbitration. Previously, an Eighth Circuit...more