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Arbitration
Sixth Circuit Approves Manifest Disregard But Disregards It
January 23, 2014
The trustees of employee stock ownership plans settled claims of breach of fiduciary duty and sought indemnification from...
January 23, 2014
The trustees of employee stock ownership plans settled claims of breach of fiduciary duty and sought indemnification from...
U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Review Delaware’s ‘Secret Trials’ Case
January 22, 2014
Delaware asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review a lower court decision that stopped the state's nationally important business court from overseeing private arbitrations, a process critics compared to secret trials. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld in October a ruling that found the five judges on Delaware's Court of Chancery had violated the U.S. Constitution by overseeing private arbitrations in their courtrooms. All court filings and even the existence of the cases...
January 22, 2014
Delaware asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review a lower court decision that stopped the state's nationally important business court from overseeing private arbitrations, a process critics compared to secret trials. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld in October a ruling that found the five judges on Delaware's Court of Chancery had violated the U.S. Constitution by overseeing private arbitrations in their courtrooms. All court filings and even the existence of the cases...
Chancery Court Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Revive Arbitration Program
January 22, 2014
The Delaware Court of Chancery has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appellate court decision declaring its confidential arbitration program unconstitutional. The petition was filed Tuesday, two days before the final deadline for a Supreme Court appeal was set to pass.
January 22, 2014
The Delaware Court of Chancery has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appellate court decision declaring its confidential arbitration program unconstitutional. The petition was filed Tuesday, two days before the final deadline for a Supreme Court appeal was set to pass.
Arbitration > Empiricism
January 22, 2014
The plaintiff in Diggs v. Citigroup, Inc. sought to resist arbitration of an employment dispute, relying upon a study by Cornell professor Alex Colvin that concluded: “there is a large gap in outcomes between the employment arbitration and litigation forums, with employees obtaining significantly less favorable outcomes in arbitration.” No. 13-10138 (Jan. 8, 2014, unpublished). The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to exclude the study under Daubert, noting...
January 22, 2014
The plaintiff in Diggs v. Citigroup, Inc. sought to resist arbitration of an employment dispute, relying upon a study by Cornell professor Alex Colvin that concluded: “there is a large gap in outcomes between the employment arbitration and litigation forums, with employees obtaining significantly less favorable outcomes in arbitration.” No. 13-10138 (Jan. 8, 2014, unpublished). The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to exclude the study under Daubert, noting...
Seventh Circuit Compels Union into Arbitration by Ratification
January 22, 2014
Since I am getting ready to teach Business Associations for the first time in three years, it is nice to have a case that reviews basic agency principles: On November 25, 2013, a panel of the Seventh Circuit issued a per curiam decision in NECA-IBEW Rockford Local Union 364 Health and Welfare Fund v. A & A Drug Co. and upheld a district court's grant of defendant's motion to compel arbitration. Plaintiff (the Fund) provides health benefits to a Rockford union of electrical workers (Local...
January 22, 2014
Since I am getting ready to teach Business Associations for the first time in three years, it is nice to have a case that reviews basic agency principles: On November 25, 2013, a panel of the Seventh Circuit issued a per curiam decision in NECA-IBEW Rockford Local Union 364 Health and Welfare Fund v. A & A Drug Co. and upheld a district court's grant of defendant's motion to compel arbitration. Plaintiff (the Fund) provides health benefits to a Rockford union of electrical workers (Local...
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Arbitration Clause that Renders Arbitral Decision Unappealable
January 21, 2014
I have been thinking a lot about Peggy Radin's book Boilerplate and her arguments about how boilerplate contacts threaten a democratic degradation (discussed elsewhere on the blog by Brian Bix, with Peggy Radin responding here, and by David Horton) because they permit private parties, powerful companies, to negate statutory or common law rights. The Ninth Circuit has put its foot down and refused to permit a potential innovation in the direction of democratic degradation, but the odd thing about...
January 21, 2014
I have been thinking a lot about Peggy Radin's book Boilerplate and her arguments about how boilerplate contacts threaten a democratic degradation (discussed elsewhere on the blog by Brian Bix, with Peggy Radin responding here, and by David Horton) because they permit private parties, powerful companies, to negate statutory or common law rights. The Ninth Circuit has put its foot down and refused to permit a potential innovation in the direction of democratic degradation, but the odd thing about...
What A-Rod Can Teach About A-rbitration
January 20, 2014
Arbitration is in the news. Not just a buried paragraph in the business section, but the front page. (A three-arbitrator panel issued a 34-page arbitration award finding Major League Baseball was justified in suspending baseball player Alex Rodriguez for 162 games, which A-Rod is now trying to vacate.) My own hope is that this high-profile arbitration becomes a tool for teaching the public about arbitration. Indeed, A-Rod’s experience to date offers pointers for everyone from the arbitration...
January 20, 2014
Arbitration is in the news. Not just a buried paragraph in the business section, but the front page. (A three-arbitrator panel issued a 34-page arbitration award finding Major League Baseball was justified in suspending baseball player Alex Rodriguez for 162 games, which A-Rod is now trying to vacate.) My own hope is that this high-profile arbitration becomes a tool for teaching the public about arbitration. Indeed, A-Rod’s experience to date offers pointers for everyone from the arbitration...
Ninth Circuit Denies Motion to Compel Arbitration Where There Is No Contract
January 17, 2014
This case is fodder for Nancy Kim's work on wrap contracts. In 2008, Donovan Lee purchased an Internet background check and report from a company called Intelius. Lee confirmed this purchase when he clicked "yes" on Itelius's webpage, where its name was the only company name to appear. In fine print on that page, he was informed that by clicking yes and looking at the report he was seeking he was also agreeing to a seven-day free trial of a "Family Safety Report" for which he would be billed...
January 17, 2014
This case is fodder for Nancy Kim's work on wrap contracts. In 2008, Donovan Lee purchased an Internet background check and report from a company called Intelius. Lee confirmed this purchase when he clicked "yes" on Itelius's webpage, where its name was the only company name to appear. In fine print on that page, he was informed that by clicking yes and looking at the report he was seeking he was also agreeing to a seven-day free trial of a "Family Safety Report" for which he would be billed...
GLOBAL K: Contrasting Attitudes towards Arbitration Clauses
January 16, 2014
The recent discussion of the December 2013 decision by the Ninth Circuit in In re Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Employment Practices Litigation calls to mind the contrast in attitudes between international and domestic practice. Mention “arbitration” among international practitioners and profs, and you are likely to get a bit of a swoon from most – arbitration, properly structured, rescues us from the risks and uncertainties of unfamiliar legal systems and provides a comfort level in terms of predictability...
January 16, 2014
The recent discussion of the December 2013 decision by the Ninth Circuit in In re Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Employment Practices Litigation calls to mind the contrast in attitudes between international and domestic practice. Mention “arbitration” among international practitioners and profs, and you are likely to get a bit of a swoon from most – arbitration, properly structured, rescues us from the risks and uncertainties of unfamiliar legal systems and provides a comfort level in terms of predictability...
A-Rod’s Legal Strikeout Provides Arbitration Insights
January 14, 2014
The most recent chapter in the saga of New York Yankees third-baseman and alleged performance enhancing drug user Alex Rodriguez came to an end on January 11, when the arbitrator in his disciplinary case against Major League Baseball announced that “A-Rod” would be suspended for the entirety of the 2014 baseball season and the playoffs. The decision—the longest drug-related suspension issued in major league history—certainly doesn’t look like a win for Rodriguez, who has already become...
January 14, 2014
The most recent chapter in the saga of New York Yankees third-baseman and alleged performance enhancing drug user Alex Rodriguez came to an end on January 11, when the arbitrator in his disciplinary case against Major League Baseball announced that “A-Rod” would be suspended for the entirety of the 2014 baseball season and the playoffs. The decision—the longest drug-related suspension issued in major league history—certainly doesn’t look like a win for Rodriguez, who has already become...
