Tag Archives: “Federal Arbitration Act”

Has the 11th Circuit Clarified the Transportation Worker Exemption of the FAA or Just Created a Circuit Split?

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration
In a published June 22 opinion, the Eleventh Circuit laid out a clear test for the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) Section 1 exemption. It answered the reoccurring question “Who is a transportation worker?” See Hamrick v. Partsfleet, LLC, No. 19-13339, 2021 WL2546405 (11th Cir. June 22, 2021). Hamrick involved final-mile delivery drivers who transported goods … Continue Reading

Can You Waive Appellate Review of an Arbitration Award? The Fourth Circuit Says Yes

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration
Many arbitration agreements address the finality of any resulting award, with differing and sometimes vague language. A number of readers might assume that regardless of the agreement language, federal courts still retain jurisdiction to review awards under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 10 (FAA). As a recent Fourth Circuit opinion reveals, the interpretation … Continue Reading

NLRB V. Alternative Entertainment, Inc. – Sixth Circuit Joins the Seventh and Ninth Circuits in Rejecting Class Waivers

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration
In a strangely timed opinion, the Sixth Circuit has entered the fray over whether class and collective waivers in employee arbitration agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Strangely timed because on January 13, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in three consolidated cases that will resolve if arbitration agreements with class and … Continue Reading

Independent Contractor Trucker Dodges FAA Arbitration and Keeps His Class Action Alive

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration, Independent Contractors
In Oliveira v. New Prime, Inc., No. 15-2364 (May 12, 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit confronted two arbitration-related questions of first impression in that Circuit.  In the case, Dominic Oliveira had signed an Independent Contractor Operating Agreement with New Prime, Inc., which contained an arbitration provision governed by the Commercial … Continue Reading

Justices Pass on Second Opportunity to Resolve the California PAGA Divide in the Bridgestone Case

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in Arbitration, PAGA, Retail
For a second time the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a California Supreme Court holding that the state’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) could not be waived in a mandatory arbitration agreement. The January 5, 2015, certiorari petition in Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC v. Brown, No. 14-790 asserted: This case presents … Continue Reading

The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Iskanian only hardens the federal-state divide over PAGA claims

Photo of John LewisPhoto of Dustin DowBy John Lewis and Dustin Dow on Posted in Arbitration, PAGA
The divide continues between California and federal law on whether an arbitration agreement can entirely waive an employee’s ability to seek classwide or multiparty representational relief. The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied certiorari in CLS Transp. Los Angeles LLC v. Iskanian, No. 14-341, leaving in place the California Supreme Court’s June 23 ruling that representative … Continue Reading

The Widening California Divide: The Rejection of Iskanian by Federal District Courts and Potential Resolution

Photo of John LewisBy John Lewis on Posted in PAGA
In an October 22, 2014, posting, we addressed the growing divide between California federal district courts and the California Supreme Court over whether an arbitration agreement can waive an employee’s right to pursue a representative claim under the state’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).  That divide has now widened as two more federal district courts … Continue Reading

California Court Compels Arbitration of Employment Class Action on an Individual Basis

Photo of Greg MersolBy Greg Mersol on Posted in Arbitration
The enforcement of arbitration agreements in the employment context has been maddeningly inconsistent, with different jurisdictions creating their own requirements and rules that might render such an agreement unenforceable. Predictably, California courts were in the vanguard of invalidating employment arbitration agreements. California courts created their own rules that, among other things, largely required class action … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Holds That Class Action Waivers In Arbitration Agreements Are Enforceable

Photo of Greg MersolBy Greg Mersol on Posted in Uncategorized
The Supreme Court has now held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. section 2, preempts state laws that would condition arbitration agreements on the availability of class action arbitration procedures.  AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion.pdf, 563 U.S. ____ (April 27, 2011).  This new holding overturns prior holdings from California as well as other jurisdictions, and … Continue Reading
LexBlog