Allan Dinkoff from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP wrote an interesting piece discussing arbitration clauses after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Rent-A-Center, West. Dinkoff suggests writing two arbitration clauses in employment agreements: The lessons to employers and others is clear. The agreement to arbitrate should contain two separate clauses, which should be made clearly [...]
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We came across the article Unresolved Questions in the Wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Class Arbitration Ruling in Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds International, by Robert E. Crotty from Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. Here is an excerpt: The U.S. Supreme Court’s April 27 ruling in Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds Int’l. (No. 08-1198), leaves numerous questions unanswered, [...]
On June 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Rent-A-Center, West v. Jackson. The question presented was: Is the district court required in all cases to determine claims that an arbitration agreement subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (”FAA”) is unconscionable, even when the parties to the contract have clearly and unmistakably assigned this “gateway” [...]
Last week, the U.S. Supreme issued its decision on Granite Rock v. Teamsters, No. 08-1214 , June 24, 2010. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Alito. Justices Stevens and Sotomayor concurred in part and dissented in part. In Granite, the responder is a local [...]
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By Alan Scott Rau One really needs a few days to absorb the importance of cases like this—I know instant punditry is increasingly de rigueur, but I’m quite uneasy with it. Anyway, with that caveat, one could say the following: The doctrinal importance of the case seems swamped by the overwhelming reality that arbitration, at [...]
[UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court decided Rent-a-Center v. Jackson today. Find a link to the opinion here. Commentary about the case to follow. Stay tuned.] A new arbitration-related petition has been filed recently before the U.S. Supreme The case comes from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On December 17, 2009, the Fifth [...]
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[Ed. note: Following find interesting comments about AT&T v. Concepcion, a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read more about the case here. These comments were first posted at Paul Lurie’s excellent listserv and we are reprinting them with the author's permission.] By James M. Gaitis Ultimately, we are faced with at least four [...]
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Montana, No. 09-911. The question presented was whether the Montana Supreme Court violated the Federal Arbitration Act by refusing to compel arbitration of a dispute between tobacco companies and settling states that courts of other states and territories have held arbitrable under the plain terms of the nationwide Master [...]
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Today, the U.S. Supreme court granted certiorari to AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, No. 09-893. The Ninth Circuit opinion is available here. The question presented is: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts States from conditioning the enforcement of an arbitration agreement on the availability of particular procedures–here, class-wide arbitration–when those procedures are not necessary to ensure [...]
GUEST-POST | Rent-a-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson and the Ongoing Assault on Party Autonomy
By James M. Gaitis With the issuance of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Rent-a-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, the foundational principle of party autonomy in arbitration has suffered yet another blow. In essence, and as was fairly and pejoratively described in what may well be Justice Stevens’ last opinion (dissenting, as it was), [...]
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