Arbitration

This decision reverses a judgment dismissing the plaintiff's petition to vacate an arbitration award.  Plaintiff represneted herself in the arbitration of her complex medical malpractice claim.  Toward the end of the arbitration, the arbitrator had a private conversation with defendant's counsel in which he expressed amazement that a pro per would try to bring such a claim and commiserated with… Read More

Following Contreras v. Superior Court (2021)  61 Cal.App.5th 461 and Provost v. YourMechanic, Inc. (2020) 55 Cal.App.5th 982, this decision holds that even when the arbitration agreement delegates arbitrability issues to the arbitrator, a plaintiff bringing a PAGA claim cannot be compelled to arbitrate the threshold issue of whether she is an "employee" with standing to bring a PAGA claim… Read More

Distinguishing Monster Energy Co. v. City Beverages, LLC (9th Cir. 2019) 940 F.3d 1130 as interpreting federal, not California law, and involving a one-time litigant against a repeat player, this decision holds that in a commercial, non-consumer, arbitration, California law does not require an arbitrator to disclose his 0.1 percent interest in JAMS.  Arbitrators are required to disclose their relationship… Read More

Older 9th Circuit decisions hold that while statutory employment discrimination claims under Title VII and similar laws are arbitrable, there must be a showing that the employee knowingly waived his right to a jury trial of such claims.  In this decision, the court holds that even if the "knowing waiver" standard is still good law, it was satisfied in this… Read More

A collective bargaining agreement will not be interpreted to require arbitration of statutory wage and hour claims unless the agreement clearly and unmistakably requires arbitration of those claims.  Here, the CBA did not meet that standard.  It required arbitration of only those issues that the union and employer later agreed to arbitrate.  Also, litigation of the statutory wage and hour… Read More

Following SEIU Local 121RN v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center (9th Cir. 2020) 976 F.3d 849, this decision holds that, at least with respect to delegation of arbitrability questions to the arbitrator, arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements are to be interpreted just like arbitration clauses in other types of contracts.  Arbitrability questions are determined by the court unless the… Read More

In a proceeding under 9 USC 7 to enforce a subpoena that an arbitrator has issued to a non-party witness, when no federal claim is at stake, a federal court has jurisdiction over the matter only if the requirements for diversity jurisdiction (including the amount in controversy requirement) are satisfied.  The amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, if the value of… Read More

Following Nieto v. Fresno Beverage Co., Inc. (2019) 33 Cal.App.5th 274, this decision holds that workers for a company 90% of whose business was providing "last mile" transportation of goods from Amazon warehouses to Amazon customers were employees in interstate commerce and thus exempt from the FAA.  Though the workers themselves did not cross state lines, they represented the final… Read More

In this PAGA suit, the trial court erred in ordering to arbitration the preliminary/gateway issue of whether the plaintiffs were employees of the defendant rather than independent contractors.  The state is the real party in interest in a PAGA suit and cannot be forced to arbitrate any portion of its claim--including whether the individual plaintiff is an employee with standing… Read More

An arbitration clause that stated both parties waived the right to bring a class action, act as a private attorney general or join claims of other persons in arbitration or in court did not offend McGill.  At least given the 9th Circuit's view that the FAA preempts Broughton and Cruz, the arbitrator could award public injunctive relief since McGill makes… Read More

Under CCP 1281.91(b), a party has an absolute right to disqualify a neutral arbitrator (once) without cause if done within 15 days of the arbitrator's providing the parties the disclosures required by CCP 1281.9.  This decision holds that the right to peremptorily disqualify a neutral arbitrator under section 1281.91 is not waivable in advance so that defendant could disqualify the… Read More

The Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act (15 USC 1226) creates a narrow exception to the Federal Arbitration Act, banning arbitration (without both parties' post-dispute consent) of claims arising from a motor vehicle franchise contract, which it defines to mean a contract under which the franchisee both sells and services motor vehicles.  Vehicle Code 11713.,3(g) contains the same terms… Read More

Following Mejia v. DACM, Inc. (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 691, this decision affirms an order denying a motion to compel arbitration.  As in Mejia, this decision distinguishes Clifford v. Quest Software Inc. (2019) 38 Cal.App.5th 745, saying it involved only the defendant's employees, not the broader public which this suit sought to benefit by an injunction against defendant's allegedly unfair practices… Read More

Reversing an order denying arbitration, this decision holds that the arbitration clause had only a minimal degree of procedural unconscionability due to the employer's greater economic power and only one clause that was substantively unconscionable but severable.  The employer was not required to give plaintiff a Spanish translation since plaintiff did not show she lacked English language skills, just that… Read More

Employer sent plaintiff a letter offering employment.  The letter contained an integration clause, but also stated that plaintiff would need to sign the employer's separate arbitration agreement.  This decision holds that the integration clause did not bar introduction of evidence of the arbitration agreement since it was not inconsistent with the offer letter's terms.  Also, the the offer letter sufficiently… Read More

The trial court properly denied defendant's motion to compel arbitration.  By not raising the point in the trial court, defendant waived its argument that arbitrability questions were delegated to the arbitrator.  The trial court properly found that the arbitration provision was unconscionable.  It was an adhesion contract, presented to the plaintiffs on a electronic tablet device which the salesman scrolled… Read More

Defendant waived its right to compel arbitration by participating in a putative class action for 24 months after service before moving to compel arbitration.  It could not excuse the delay on its belated discovery of the arbitration agreement bearing plaintiff's signature sisnce it alleged arbitration as an affirmative defense in its answer, knew that when plaintiff was hired its policy… Read More

This decision reverses a judgment confirming an arbitration award on the ground that the award violates public policy.  The award interpreted a provision of the union's memorandum of understanding with plaintiff department to mean that after one year the employing state agency not only had to delete negative material from the employee's file but also barred the agency from retaining… Read More

The trial court properly confirmed an arbitration award.  Contrary to the loser's claim, the fact that many years before the arbitrator had been a founding member of and lawyer for GLAAD, an LBGTQ organization, was not a fact that the arbitrator should have disclosed as showing potential for bias.  The case did not involve any LBGTQ issues, and the loser's… Read More

The decision affirms an order denying a nursing facility's motion to compel arbitration. The son and wife separately signed admission papers for the patient, including an arbitration agreement.  To overcome the trial court's finding that the patient had not authorized the son and wife to act for him in that regard, on appeal the defendant would have to show it's… Read More