The Fifth Circuit just deepened (and confused) a Circuit split over the question of who decides whether an arbitration agreement permits class proceedings.  See 20/20 Communications, Incorporated v. Crawford, 2019 WL 3281412 (5th Cir. July 22, 2019).

Liz has written about the split here, here, and here.  (You might also recall that SCOTUS flagged this issue, though it punted on it, in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 1407, 1417 n.4, 203 L.Ed.2d 636 (2019) (“This Court has not decided whether the availability of class arbitration is a so-called ‘question of arbitrability,’ which includes these gateway matters.”)  Basically, the issue is whether courts or arbitrators should determine the availability of class arbitration.

All Circuits that have spoken about the matter (the 3d, 4th, now 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th) agree that class arbitrability is a gateway question for courts, at least absent a delegation clause.  See Opalinksi v. Robert Half Int’l, Inc., 761 F.3d 326 (3d Cir. 2014); Del Webb Cmtys., Inc. v. Carlson, 817 F.3d 867 (4th Cir. 2016); Reed Elsevier, Inc. ex rel. LexisNexis Div. v. Crockett, 734 F.3d 594 (6th Cir. 2013); Herrington v. Waterstone Mortg. Corp., 907 F.3d 502 (7th Cir. 2018); Catamaran Corp. v. Towncrest Pharmacy, 864 F.3d 966 (8th Cir. 2017); Eshagh v. Terminix Int’l Co., L.P., 588 F. App’x 703 (9th Cir. 2014) (unpublished); JPay, Inc. v. Kobel, 904 F.3d 923 (11th Cir. 2018).  Moreover, the Second and Tenth Circuits have “assumed without deciding” that class arbitrability is a gateway question for courts.  Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC v. Sappington, 2018 WL 1177230 (2d Cir. March 7, 2018); Spirit Airlines v. Maizes, 2018 WL 3866335 (11th Cir. Aug. 15, 2018).  So, there’s substantial agreement about the notion that the availability of class proceedings constitutes a “foundational question of arbitrability.”  Herrington, 907 F.3d at 507.

Read original article


Tags: