On January 12, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Wendy Smith, et al. v. Keith Spizzirri, et al. The Court’s review should resolve a split in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal as to whether, when presented...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that a license agreement between two parties required an arbitrator to determine whether a dispute between the parties had to be heard by an arbitrator. ROHM Semiconductor...more
As Dominic Toretto says: “Ask any racer, any real racer, it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning’s winning.” “Fast and Furious” is the tenth highest-grossing film series ever, with a combined gross of over...more
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer and White Sales, Inc. to decide a question that has divided the federal circuit courts and state supreme courts: “whether a provision...more
“Class arbitration” signifies the utilization of the Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 protocol in an arbitration proceeding. A fundamental question among many concerning the legal viability of “class arbitration” is whether an arbitrator can...more
Two professional baseball teams — the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles — were parties to a partnership agreement granting exclusive broadcast rights to their baseball games to a third entity. The agreement had a...more
A group of customers appealed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration and a declaratory judgment entered in an action brought by three internet providers. The customers subscribed to internet service in Georgia and...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 term was a busy one for arbitration, with the Court issuing rulings in three cases addressing questions of the reach and interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The Court has already...more
A federal appeals court decided last week that ride-share drivers engaging in interstate commerce while performing work for Uber should not be subject to the company’s arbitration agreement because of a recent Supreme Court...more
In July 2018, our Construction Alert addressed the question of who decides the arbitrability of a dispute when your contract includes an arbitration clause. Is it a court or the arbitrator? How did the “wholly groundless”...more
Can arbitrators determine what issues they have the power to decide? According to the U.S. Supreme Court, they can, provided there is “clear and unmistakable evidence” the parties intended to delegate threshold questions to...more
Introduction - On January 15, 2019, Justice Gorsuch, the self-described textualist on the U.S. Supreme Court, authored the opinion of the Court in the matter of New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, interpreting the term “contracts...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In January, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that the Federal Arbitration Act’s (“FAA” or the “Act”) exclusion for transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce...more
The $100 million settlement announced Monday by a transportation company to resolve a long-running misclassification claim might be the direct result of a January Supreme Court decision, and might be a troubling harbinger of...more
Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a significant decision upholding the use of individual arbitration agreements that include class action waivers. The Epic Systems’ Decision provided clarity to...more
After the Supreme Court ruled a few weeks ago that independent contractors working “in interstate commerce” were exempt from arbitration pacts due to a broad interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (New Prime v....more
Arbitration clauses are commonplace in corporate transactions, including those in the product liability arena. Whether the agreement concerns the distribution of a product to a seller or the sale of a product to a consumer,...more
In January 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision confirming the broad power of arbitrators and the strict enforcement of arbitration agreements. In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Kavanaugh, the Court in...more
Taking the time to include a well-crafted arbitration agreement in your employment contracts sometimes feels like a moot point, but a recent unanimous U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales,...more
Archer & White Sales, Inc. (“Archer”) sued Henry Schein, Inc. (“Schein”) in federal court seeking both monetary and injunctive relief....more
In recent years, it has been an unerringly safe bet that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of the enforcement of arbitration agreements. But on January 15, 2019, the Court issued a rare decision bucking that trend in...more
In his first opinion since being confirmed to the Supreme Court, Justice Kavanaugh was joined by his fellow justices in unanimously deciding that delegation clauses in arbitration agreements must be enforced. Delegation...more
Gateway issues of arbitrability are presumptively for a court, rather than an arbitrator, to decide in the first instance. First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938 (1995). But arbitration is a creature of...more
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires courts to enforce private arbitration provisions contained in agreements between private parties. But the U.S. Supreme Court recently carved out an exception to the otherwise...more
In 1925, Congress passed and President Coolidge signed the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., which provides that arbitrators, not judges and juries, must decide the issues that the parties agreed to...more