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
Fall colors are on full display in DC. But leaf peeping can’t keep us from following the latest news at the Federal Circuit. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and our case of the week—our highly subjective...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
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Piersing v. Domino’s Pizza Franchising LLC, 20-695 (Jan. 25 2021) and dismissed its own writ of certiorari as “improvidently granted” in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer &...more
The U.S. Supreme Court just refused to address the question of whether a carve-out in an arbitration agreement exempting certain claims from arbitration also exempts those claims from the agreement’s delegation of...more
On September 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit addressed the perennially thorny issue of whether the courts or arbitrators retain the authority to resolve questions involving the enforceability of...more
This appeal arises from a class action suit alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227. In 2015, plaintiff Manuel Mendoza bought a car from defendant car dealer Fred Haas Motors, and...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
Many contracts have provisions that state that disputes relating to the agreement will be resolved in arbitration. But often questions arise as to whether a particular dispute should be decided in arbitration or in court. ...more
US Supreme Court Issues Trio of Arbitration Decisions - During its 2018-19 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in three cases involving arbitration matters. These decisions, discussed further in our September 26,...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
On January 8, 2019, the US Supreme Court held in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., 586 U.S. --- (Jan. 8, 2019), that when a contract delegates to arbitrators the question whether a dispute is subject to...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 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
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
In the past two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court released two unanimous opinions regarding enforcement of arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer and White Sales, Inc., and...more
Takeaway: Justice Kavanaugh’s first Supreme Court opinion is yet another High Court reminder that, when it comes to arbitration, the contract controls. If parties agree that an arbitrator should resolve the “gateway” issue...more
The Supreme Court and the Third Circuit decided three cases in the last week relating to the interpretation and enforceability of arbitration agreements. We discuss them below. Third Circuit Compels Arbitration of an...more