Enforceability of Physician Non-Compete Agreements
The war against arbitration agreements continues apace. The latest volley comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Johnson v. Continental Finance Company, LLC, No. 23-2047 (4th Cir. Mar. 11, 2025). In...more
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Supreme Court held in Pace v. Hamilton Cove that class action waivers in consumer contracts that do not contain an arbitration clause (i.e., a stand-alone class action waiver) are not per se...more
On October 28, 2024, the Ninth Circuit struck a mass arbitration agreement as unconscionable and unenforceable under California law in Heckman v. Live Nation Ent., Inc., No. 23-55770. The three-judge panel affirmed the...more
A California appellate court recently denied a motion to compel arbitration, finding the agreement unconscionable in part because it (1) applied to all claims rather than just those arising from employment, (2) was unlimited...more
The Second Circuit recently ruled that an ERISA plan’s arbitration provision was not enforceable because the provision barred plan-wide relief. Cedeno v. Sasson, 2024 WL 1895053 (2d Cir. May 1, 2024). The Court decision...more
There are times when one would rather not be proven right. Nearly four years ago, a California district court invalidated AB 51, which sought to prohibit mandatory arbitration by, among other things, calling for criminal...more
As previously discussed, courts continue to disagree over the enforceability of mandatory arbitration provisions containing class action waivers set forth in benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
The Nevada Supreme Court recently reversed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration, explaining that the plaintiff’s arguments that the contract at issue was illegal were not a valid basis to deny arbitration because...more
On February 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a 2020 California law that attempted to prohibit employers from requiring employees and job applicants to agree to arbitration as a condition of employment. The...more
Two DoorDash delivery drivers filed a class action against the company and two of its employees alleging violations of federal and state wage and hour laws. After removal of the case to the Southern District of New York, the...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
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division and held that an arbitration agreement may bind the parties even if the agreement does not designate a specific...more
The New Jersey Supreme Court in late November 2019 heard oral argument in Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., 456 N.J. Super. 613 (App. Div. 2018), cert. granted, 237 N.J. 310 (2019), in which the Appellate Division boldly refused...more
The #MeToo Movement, now in its third year, continued its evolution from grassroots activism to legislative change in 2019, with new laws addressing discrimination and harassment emerging from state governments and resulting...more
As part of its efforts to rescind outdated guidance on a rolling basis, the EEOC recently dispensed with a 22-year-old policy statement that disfavored mandatory arbitration agreements between employers and employees....more
On November 26, 2019, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard B. Ulmer ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) might not apply to Uber drivers who are engaged in interstate commerce while driving passengers to or...more
Nevada Revised Statutes section 597.995 requires agreements that include an arbitration provision to also include a specific authorization for the arbitration provision showing that the parties affirmatively agreed to that...more
On June 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit held in three separate cases that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt the California Supreme Court’s holding in McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 2 Cal.5th 945 (2017) — otherwise...more
On June 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit issued three decisions confirming that the FAA does not preempt California’s so-called “McGill” rule. As a result, the court invalidated provisions of the arbitration agreements in each...more
A Pennsylvania federal district court granted a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to 9 U.S.C. § 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act, over objection by the defendant on severability grounds. The defendant argued that its...more
Earlier this year, we reported on the pendency of several Ninth Circuit appeals concerning the enforceability of consumer arbitration agreements with respect to claims for “public” injunctive relief. On June 28, 2019, in...more
Ever since Uber became part of our everyday world, the mandatory arbitration agreement it requires its independent contractor drivers to sign has been under constant scrutiny—and attack. A recent decision, however, fell in...more
In an unpublished decision, the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District denied an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of a former employee’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims. Instead, the court...more
An Illinois appellate court recently affirmed a lower court decision granting summary judgment and denying defendant insurers’ motion to compel arbitration where Nebraska law governed, reverse preempted the Federal...more
This week, in Marilyn Flanzman v. Jenny Craig Inc. et al., No. A-2580-17, a panel of the Appellate Division found that an arbitration provision between weight loss company Jenny Craig and a former employee was unenforceable...more