arbitration | Judiciary.org

Supreme Court

Justices to consider California’s private-attorney-general exception to arbitration clause

The last few decades have witnessed the working out in several cases of a sustained disagreement between the Supreme Court and California legislators and judges. The Supreme Court has taken the view that the Federal Arbitration Act compels the enforcement, in state and federal courts, of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Accordingly, the justices have rejected every effort to undermine the capacious application of those agreements to shift disputes between businesses and employees or customers from courts to arbitrators. California, acting … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Are airline cargo loaders engaged in interstate commerce? The answer has high stakes for forced arbitration.

Like many cases involving the Federal Arbitration Act, Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon began with an employment dispute: Southwest employee Latrice Saxon believed she was owed overtime pay. On behalf of herself and her fellow ramp-agent supervisors, Saxon filed a complaint under federal wage-and-hour law in federal court. Southwest responded that Saxon’s case should be dismissed because she was bound by an arbitration agreement, which was enforceable under the FAA. Similar arguments routinely succeed in employment cases – but … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices will take up cases on arbitration, locomotives, and Congress’ war powers

The Supreme Court on Wednesday morning granted three more cases from the justices’ private conference last week. The announcement that the justices will take on issues relating to arbitration, trains, and congressional power followed two other sets of orders from the Dec. 10 conference, but the decision to grant a second tranche of petitions from that conference followed similar moves in late 2020 and 2019, allowing the justices to add more cases to their docket for the second half … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices agree to take up new cases on arbitration issues and international child custody

The Supreme Court on Friday added three new cases to its docket for the 2021-22 term. After the court’s rulings in a pair of cases challenging a Texas law that bans almost all abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy on Friday morning, the new grants on Friday afternoon had a decidedly lower profile. The justices agreed to take up issues ranging from international child custody to discovery in private arbitration and the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act.… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices grant arbitration case, won’t take up Volkswagen emissions cases

Ten years ago, in AT&T v. Concepcion, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to put arbitration agreements “on an equal footing with other contracts.” Concepcion involved a state law that treated arbitration clauses unfavorably. On Monday, the court agreed to hear a lawsuit from a fast-food worker who alleges that a lower court treated an arbitration clause too favorably.

The decision to take up the case, Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., came in … Read the rest