Arbitration Clause

Agreeing with Montemayor v. Ford Motor Co. (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 958 and other recent cases refusing to follow Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486, this decision holds that a standard California car sale contract with an arbitration clause does not require the car buyer to arbitrate his warranty claims or Song Beverly Act claims against the car's… Read More

The district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff's claim that defendant discriminated against her in denying her a consolidation loan to combine her two existing student loans.  Defendant was judicially estopped from relying on the arbitration clause in the second loan because at an earlier hearing on whether that clause was unconscionable, defendant… Read More

The district court erred in holding that the delegation clause in the arbitration agreement in this case was unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.  The district court so ruled because the arbitration agreement also provided that if, for any reason, the dispute was not arbitrated, the parties waived a jury trial.  Such a pre-dispute waiver of jury trial is unenforceable under California… Read More

Disagreeing with Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486, this decision holds that a standard California car sale contract with an arbitration clause does not require the car buyer to arbitrate his warranty claims against the car's manufacturer.  Breach of warranty claims are based on statute, not the car sale contract, and so are not intertwined with the… Read More

Under McGill v. Citibank, N.A. (2017) 2 Cal.5th 945, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to compel arbitration because the arbitration clause forbade award of a public injunction in any forum.  Contrary to the defendant's argument, its arbitration agreement did not authorize the arbitrator to award a public injunction.  It provided instead that arbitration is to be “conducted only… Read More

Kinder was a patient at defendant's residential skilled nursing facility.  The trial court correctly denied a motion to compel arbitration of Kinder's personal injury claim because she did not sign the facility's arbitration agreement.  Instead, her adult child signed for her.  The facility produced no evidence to show that the signer had actual or ostensible authority to sign for Kinder. … Read More

Kaiser's arbitration clause satisfied H&S Code 1363.1's requirement that a health plan's arbitration clause be prominently displayed immediately before the patient's signature.  The enrollment was by computer.  The arbitration clause appeared just before a button marked "save" and a warning that by hitting that button, the patient would be agreeing to Kaiser's terms and conditions and enrolling in the health… Read More

The trial court did not err in denying a motion to compel arbitration in this case on the ground of unconscionability.  The employee was required as a condition of employment to sign the arbitration agreement and a separate confidentiality agreement.  The two had to be construed together since they both dealt with resolution of disputes arising out of plaintiff's employment… Read More

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela (2019) 139 S.Ct. 1407 only held that ambiguity could not be construed against drafter for purposes of determining whether the parties had agreed to classwide arbitration.  It did not hold that the construction against drafter principle is inapplicable to other types of ambiguities in the arbitration agreement.  In any event, there was no ambiguity in… Read More

Disagreeing with Davis v. TWC Dealer Group, Inc. (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 662, this decision holding that the arbitration provision in Nissan dealerships' standard employment agreement is not unconscionable.  Though having a high degree of procedural unconscionability due to small print size and lengthy, obscure language, the clause is not substantively unconscionable.  Small print size and obtuse phrasing relate to procedural… Read More

Disagreeing with Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) 53 Cal.App.5th 486, this decision holds that a standard California car sale contract with an arbitration clause does not require the car buyer to arbitrate his warranty claims against the car's manufacturer.  A warranty claim is not based on the car sale contract, but instead is an obligation of the manufacturer that… Read More

Substantial evidence supported the trial court's decision finding that the defendant care facility's arbitration agreement was unenforceable against a patient's heirs because the patient, who had suffered a stroke days before signing the agreement, lacked the mental capacity to contract when he signed the form. Read More

Following Ajamian v. CantorCO2e, LP (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 771, this decision holds that an arbitration clause that merely calls for arbitration of all disputes arising under the agreement but does not specifically mention disputes about arbitrability issues fails to meet the "clear and unmistakable" standard for delegation of arbitrability questions to the arbitrator.  It also follows Ajamian in folding that… Read More

The district court properly enforced defendant’s arbitration clause.  The online terms of use adequately identified defendant as a party to the agreement by referring to its dba.  The terms of use were presented on the website in a manner that was between click wrap and browse wrap but adequately informed the user of the terms' existence and availability for review… Read More

The trial court properly enforced an employer's arbitration clause.  The clause was only minimally procedurally unconscionable, being presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis by the employer which wielded greater economic power.  However, the clause was on a separate page.  It was short and clearly titled.  The page also warned the employee to read the clause closely. The clause was not substantively… Read More

The court, not the arbitrator, decides whether the parties entered into an agreement to arbitrate even if the supposed arbitration agreement contains a broad delegation clause.  Here, the trial court correctly determined that plaintiff had not agreed to arbitrate.  Defendant produced no agreement signed by plaintiff.  The credit card application he signed did not reference any agreement, let alone an… Read More

The 2022 amendment to the FAA exempting from its enforcement of arbitration agreements pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate sexual assault or harassment claims does not apply retroactively to suites filed before the amendment's effective date.  Nevertheless, arbitration should not have been compelled here because the agreement is unconscionable.  Procedurally, the employer did not disclose at the time of agreement which arbitration… Read More

Plaintiff did not agree to a franchisor's arbitration clause, so the trial court correctly denied the franchisor's motion to compel arbitration.  The arbitration clause was contained in the franchisor's "terms and conditions of service" which were available to the plaintiff only by checking an inconspicuous link on a tablet device handed to plaintiff as she appeared for her monthly massage… Read More

When plaintiffs created their Coinbase accounts, they agreed to the “Coinbase User Agreement,” which contains an arbitration provision. They later opted into the Sweepstakes’ “Official Rules,” which include a forum selection clause providing that California courts have exclusive jurisdiction over any controversies regarding the sweepstakes.  This decision affirms the district court's determination that the arbitration agreement did not delegate to… Read More

This decision holds that Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (2022) 142 S.Ct. 1906 overrules the cases that followed Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348 in holding that pre-dispute arbitration clauses were unenforceable to compel arbitration of the individual PAGA claim(s) of the plaintiff employee.  Viking River held that the individual plaintiff acts in part… Read More