Ninth Circuit Holds Arbitration Is Not State Action
By Outsourcing Justice, January 8, 2018
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In Roberts v. AT&T Mobility, No. 16-16915 (9th Cir. Dec. 11, 2017) (click here for a copy of the decision), the Ninth Circuit quickly dismissed a First Amendment challenge to a consumer arbitration by finding “[t]here is no state action here.”
The plaintiffs filed a class action alleging that AT&T falsely advertised their phone service as “unlimited,” while at the same slowing down data speeds or “throttling.” In response to AT&T’s motion to compel arbitration, the plaintiffs claimed they had a First Amendment right under the Petitions Clause to bring their claims in court. The Ninth Circuit found that the constitutional claim failed because there was no state action involved. According to the Ninth Circuit’s decision, parties are given a private choice to arbitrate under the FAA, and that choice is not attributable to the state.
