Arbitration
Texas Bill Would Limit Use of Arbitration in Certain Insurance and Health Benefit Contracts
March 28, 2013
Relating to certain binding arbitration provisions in certain insurance and health benefit plan coverage documents.
March 28, 2013
Relating to certain binding arbitration provisions in certain insurance and health benefit plan coverage documents.
Online Arbitration Clause in Payday Loan Application Held Unconscionable
March 27, 2013
¶34 Kelker presented undisputed evidence in her affidavit that she did not understand the arbitration agreement. Nothing conspicuous denotes the arbitration clause. No bold or capital letters highlight the arbitration clause. Geneva-Roth highlighted several other sections of the Loan Agreement with bold or capital letters. Kelker alleges in her undisputed affidavit that no one explained the arbitration clause. ¶35 In fact, Kelker entered the contract over the Internet with no contact with any employees...
March 27, 2013
¶34 Kelker presented undisputed evidence in her affidavit that she did not understand the arbitration agreement. Nothing conspicuous denotes the arbitration clause. No bold or capital letters highlight the arbitration clause. Geneva-Roth highlighted several other sections of the Loan Agreement with bold or capital letters. Kelker alleges in her undisputed affidavit that no one explained the arbitration clause. ¶35 In fact, Kelker entered the contract over the Internet with no contact with any employees...
Oral Argument in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida
March 26, 2013
Monday’s oral argument for the class arbitration dispute in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida before the US Supreme Court contained some expected points and some unexpected points. As expected, the argument revolved around the question of the extent to which the Court should defer to the decision of the arbitrator, who interpreted the arbitration clause to authorized class arbitration, or instead to treat the matter as a question of law under the Federal Arbitration Act, with a strong presumption...
March 26, 2013
Monday’s oral argument for the class arbitration dispute in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida before the US Supreme Court contained some expected points and some unexpected points. As expected, the argument revolved around the question of the extent to which the Court should defer to the decision of the arbitrator, who interpreted the arbitration clause to authorized class arbitration, or instead to treat the matter as a question of law under the Federal Arbitration Act, with a strong presumption...
NERA Economic Consulting Releases Wage and Hour Settlements Trends Report
March 25, 2013
Wage and hour settlements for US companies totaled $467 million in 2012, largely in line with previous years, according to NERA Economic Consulting's Trends in Wage and Hour Settlements: 2012 Update, released today. The annual study analyzes cases involving allegations of current and/or former employees' unpaid work, including unpaid overtime, failure to provide meals and/or rest breaks, and off-the-clock work. NERA Trends authors have compiled a proprietary database of all wage and hour settlements...
March 25, 2013
Wage and hour settlements for US companies totaled $467 million in 2012, largely in line with previous years, according to NERA Economic Consulting's Trends in Wage and Hour Settlements: 2012 Update, released today. The annual study analyzes cases involving allegations of current and/or former employees' unpaid work, including unpaid overtime, failure to provide meals and/or rest breaks, and off-the-clock work. NERA Trends authors have compiled a proprietary database of all wage and hour settlements...
Today: Argument in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter
March 25, 2013
Issue: Whether an arbitrator acts within his powers under the Federal Arbitration Act (as the Second and Third Circuits have held) or exceeds those powers (as the Fifth Circuit has held) by determining that parties affirmatively “agreed to authorize class arbitration,” Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds Int'l Corp., based solely on their use of broad contractual language precluding litigation and requiring arbitration of any dispute arising under their contract. Cornell Summary: Over a decade...
March 25, 2013
Issue: Whether an arbitrator acts within his powers under the Federal Arbitration Act (as the Second and Third Circuits have held) or exceeds those powers (as the Fifth Circuit has held) by determining that parties affirmatively “agreed to authorize class arbitration,” Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds Int'l Corp., based solely on their use of broad contractual language precluding litigation and requiring arbitration of any dispute arising under their contract. Cornell Summary: Over a decade...
Investor Protection Meets the Federal Arbitration Act
March 22, 2013
In the past three decades, most recently in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court has advanced an aggressive pro-arbitration campaign, transforming the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) into a powerful source of anti-consumer substantive arbitration law. In the aftermath of AT&T Mobility, which upheld a prohibition on class actions in a consumer contract despite state law that refused to enforce such provisions on unconscionability grounds, efforts have been made to prohibit...
March 22, 2013
In the past three decades, most recently in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court has advanced an aggressive pro-arbitration campaign, transforming the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) into a powerful source of anti-consumer substantive arbitration law. In the aftermath of AT&T Mobility, which upheld a prohibition on class actions in a consumer contract despite state law that refused to enforce such provisions on unconscionability grounds, efforts have been made to prohibit...
Arbitration and Access to Justice: Economic Analysis
March 22, 2013
Mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are widely regarded as problematic because they limit consumer’s access to judicial forums, to fair procedures, and potentially to any kind of remedy. But rather than looking at consumers as a group, I examine which sub groups of consumers are affected by this limitation more than others. I argue that in most circumstances, access to courts benefits the elite, not the weak. It is a species of open-access policy that has an unintended regressive...
March 22, 2013
Mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are widely regarded as problematic because they limit consumer’s access to judicial forums, to fair procedures, and potentially to any kind of remedy. But rather than looking at consumers as a group, I examine which sub groups of consumers are affected by this limitation more than others. I argue that in most circumstances, access to courts benefits the elite, not the weak. It is a species of open-access policy that has an unintended regressive...
Mandatory Predispute Consumer Arbitration, Structural Bias, and Incentivizing Procedural Safeguards
March 22, 2013
Within the past several decades, there has been an explosion in the creation, institutionalization and use of “alternative” dispute resolution procedures. Mandatory predispute arbitration has generated the most controversy because it appears beset with structural bias. The recent cases of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion and Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood have raised additional concerns as the Supreme Court has announced that corporations can force consumers to arbitrate their private and statutory...
March 22, 2013
Within the past several decades, there has been an explosion in the creation, institutionalization and use of “alternative” dispute resolution procedures. Mandatory predispute arbitration has generated the most controversy because it appears beset with structural bias. The recent cases of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion and Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood have raised additional concerns as the Supreme Court has announced that corporations can force consumers to arbitrate their private and statutory...
Goldman Can Arbitrate Gender Discrimination Class Action
March 21, 2013
The Second Circuit held today in Parisi v. Goldman Sachs that an arbitration provision in an employment agreement would be enforced, even though the plaintiff contended that arbitration on an individual basis would prevent her from pursuing “a pattern-or-practice claim” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (where the arbitration provision did not permit class arbitration). The Circuit held—on a ground more pertinent to discrimination claims than to arbitration law—that “’pattern-or...
March 21, 2013
The Second Circuit held today in Parisi v. Goldman Sachs that an arbitration provision in an employment agreement would be enforced, even though the plaintiff contended that arbitration on an individual basis would prevent her from pursuing “a pattern-or-practice claim” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (where the arbitration provision did not permit class arbitration). The Circuit held—on a ground more pertinent to discrimination claims than to arbitration law—that “’pattern-or...
Evolving Perceptions of Mediation, Arbitration and Conflict Management in Fortune 1,000 Corporations
March 21, 2013
As attorneys for the world’s most visible clients, corporate counsel played a key role in the transformation of American conflict resolution in the late Twentieth Century. In 1997 a survey of Fortune 1,000 corporate counsel provided the first broad-based picture of conflict resolution processes within large companies. In 2011, a second landmark survey of corporate counsel in Fortune 1,000 companies captured a variety of critical changes in the ways large companies handle conflict. Comparing their...
March 21, 2013
As attorneys for the world’s most visible clients, corporate counsel played a key role in the transformation of American conflict resolution in the late Twentieth Century. In 1997 a survey of Fortune 1,000 corporate counsel provided the first broad-based picture of conflict resolution processes within large companies. In 2011, a second landmark survey of corporate counsel in Fortune 1,000 companies captured a variety of critical changes in the ways large companies handle conflict. Comparing their...
