Category Archives: Arbitration

Cole Paper on the Federalization of Consumer Arbitration

Sarah Rudolph Cole of Ohio State haas written The Federalization of Consumer Arbitration: Possible Solutions.  Here is the abstract: Over the past fifteen to twenty years, businesses dramatically increased the use of arbitration clauses in contracts with consumers.  Although commentators criticize the use of arbitration to resolve consumer disputes because arbitration lacks the due process […]

Fifth Circuit Decides D.R. Horton, Overturns NLRB’s Ruling that Class-Action Bans are Unfair Labor Practices

by Deepak Gupta In a much-anticipated decision, the Fifth Circuit held today that the National Labor Relations Board overstepped its authority when it ruled that an employer violated federal labor law by requiring its employees to sign an arbitration agreement containing a class-action ban. Judge Leslie Southwick, joined by Judge King, isssued the opinion for the court. Here's […]

Talesh Paper on How Corporations Use Private Dispute Mechanisms to Weaken Consumer Protection Laws

Shauhin A. Talesh of Irvin has written How the 'Haves' Come Out Ahead in the Twenty-First Century, 62 De Paul Law Review .519 (2013).  Here is the abstract: This paper attempts to bridge and link the “speculations” in Marc Galanter’s seminal article in 1974 regarding how repeat players influence public legal institutions by playing for […]

California Supreme Court addresses impact of Concepcion and Italian Colors

by Deepak Gupta In a 70-page opinion by Justice Goodwin Liu, the California Supreme Court on Thursday issued its eagerly anticipated decision in Sonic-Calabasas v. Moreno. Addressing the impact of both AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors for the first time, the court makes clear that unconscionability — focused on whether […]

More From Linda Mullenix on the Supreme Court’s Arbitration Decisions

Linda Mullenix of Texas has written The Court's 2012 Class Act:  A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That, 40 Preview of U. S. Supreme Court Cases 328 (2013). Here's the abstract: Building on the Court’s heightened interest in class action litigation, the Court during the 2012-13 term issued an unprecedented six decisions […]

Arizona Court Strikes Down Arbitration Clause as Too Expensive for Plaintiff

By F. Paul Bland   On Twitter @PblandBland This is a classic good news/bad news type of case for plaintiffs.  The good news is that a court struck down as unconscionable an arbitration clause that imposed enormous fees on an individual before the individual could go to arbitration.  The bad news is that the case shows what a […]

Hawaii Supreme Court Says No Arbitration Without Meaningful Consent

By Paul Bland, On Twitter  @PblandBland   This is a case with very painful facts – according to the complaint, a Kaiser patient went in to see his doctor and was told he had a particular type of cancer that his doctor wasn’t familiar with, but would do “internet research” about, that he might die within […]

Nevada Federal Court Strikes Down Egregiously Unfair and Hidden Arbitration Clause

By Paul Bland On Twitter: @PBlandBland       In the wake of recent Supreme Court decisions, forced arbitration clauses are generally enforced unless a corporation sticks something particularly overreaching and unfair in its arbitration clause, or drafts an arbitration clause in an unusually stupid way.  A U.S. district court in Nevada just found that Zappos did both […]

Pa appellate court holds nursing home’s arbitration clause doesn’t cover tort claims

by Paul Bland On Twitter @PblandBland   In Setlock v. Pinebrook, a Pennsylvania appellate court read a nursing home's arbitration clause to cover only the types of disputes named, refusing the home's invitation to re-write the clause more broadly. This is a tragic wrongful death and survivorship case, where nursing home personnel allegedly accidentally moved […]