Tell me if you have heard this one before: ten companies are sued by a former employee as “joint employers”, even though the employee technically worked for, and signed a binding arbitration agreement with, only one of them....more
Employees who sign an arbitration agreement with one company cannot avoid arbitration with related defendant-companies by arguing they were not parties to the agreement. The California Court of Appeal held that claims against...more
Departing from the ruling in Soltero v. Precise Distribution earlier this year, the California Court of Appeal in the Second District in Gonzalez v. Nowhere Beverly Hills LLC, created a split of authority regarding an alleged...more
Defendants appealed a California federal district court order denying their motion to compel arbitration of the plaintiff’s claims for trade secret misappropriation, common law misappropriation, and unfair competition. The...more
Plaintiffs, the Republic of Kazakhstan and Outrider Management LLC, filed suit in New York state court claiming the defendants conspired to obtain a fraudulent international arbitral award against them of nearly $500 million....more
The Second Circuit recently affirmed the denial of motions to compel arbitration filed by, inter alia, the Trump Corp. and a nonparty from whom the plaintiffs sought discovery....more
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) contracted with U.S. Trinity Energy Services LLC for the construction and installation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline across property in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Trinity...more
In a recent Commercial Division case, Justice Elizabeth H. Emerson was asked to determine whether certain parties were bound by an arbitration clause and whether that arbitration clause applied to a particular controversy—two...more
In a decision substantively the same as the now-withdrawn opinion entered on January 20, 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit once again affirmed denial of a non-signatory’s motion to compel arbitration. Setty...more
California law is not typically seen as amiable to compelling employees to arbitrate their claims. However, in Franklin v. Community Regional Medical Center, ___ F.3d___(9th Cir. 2021), the Ninth Circuit panel upheld a motion...more
In Shelton v. Comcast Corp., No. 20-1763, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10790 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 21, 2021), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted Comcast’s motion to compel arbitration under the terms...more
The global pandemic has brought about countless changes, including, for many households, increased reliance on online retail and delivery services, such as Amazon. When consumers sign up for these services or place their...more
In a dispute over Uber’s alleged failure to provide a wheelchair-accessible ride-sharing option in New Orleans, the District Court held that, under California law, plaintiffs were not equitably estopped from avoiding...more
Can your business be compelled to defend an international arbitration brought by an entity with whom you never agreed to arbitrate? On June 1, 2020, a unanimous United States Supreme Court answered this question in the...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration against insurers but not brokers related to a commercial insurance dispute....more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court order denying the plaintiff’s motion to compel arbitration against two non-signatories to the relevant contract. The plaintiff was issued a credit card by defendant...more
All three defendants were non-signatories to the underlying contract containing the arbitration agreement they sought to enforce. They each contended that they were entitled to enforce the arbitration agreement, despite their...more
A New York appellate court has held that a company’s bankruptcy trustee was not bound by an arbitration agreement entered into by the company and an accounting firm....more
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review a decision concerning arbitration that hinges on the interaction of (i) the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “NY...more
In a trademark dispute, Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP (SS LLP), an incense manufacturing company based in Mumbai, appealed the denial of its motion to compel arbitration against Balkrishna Setty and his company Shrinivas...more
As discussed in our post from last year, on August 30, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision to compel arbitration between an Alabama steel plant owner, Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC...more
The Supreme Court of South Carolina recently determined that non-signatory insureds could not be compelled to arbitrate their claims under an arbitration clause in an agency agreement where the insureds did not obtain a...more
SBS is a staffing company that provides personnel to various retail services, such as SPAR. SBS engaged Paradise Hogan (“Hogan”) and assigned Hogan to SPAR. Hogan and SBS entered into an Independent Contractor Master...more
In Vasquez v. San Miguel Produce, Inc. et al. (B287696, 2019 Cal.App. LEXIS 79, publication order 1/3/19), the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District held that a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement had...more
Your client who was just subpoenaed to provide documents in an arbitration, advises you, but with confidence says “But we did not agree to arbitrate, so I can ignore this, right?” ...more