Arbitration

Lacy, an employee, filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor claiming her employer, Crestwood, had retaliated against her in violation of Lab. Code 98.7 for complaining about having been assaulted at work.  The DLSE commenced an investigation of the complaint.  Meanwhile, Crestwood filed a petition to compel arbitration under the arbitration clause in Lacy's employment contract.  The trial… Read More

Agreeing with decisions from many other districts, this decision holds that an employer cannot compel arbitration of its worker's PAGA claim, as the claim is by the state, not by the worker who signed the arbitration agreement.  Iskanian v. CLS Transportation (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348 remains good law and was not undermined by Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (2018) 138… Read More

In a FEHA suit, a prevailing defendant may not recover its fees and costs unless the court finds the action was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless when brought, or the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so.” (Gov. Code, § 12965(b).)  The employer may compel arbitration of FEHA claims, but only if the arbitrator may award any remedy a… Read More

This decision dismisses defendant's appeals from several trial court orders under the appellate disentitlement doctrine.  Defendant had refused to obey a long string of court orders in this long running dispute over a construction contract for defendant's casino.  Defendant refused to obey an order compelling arbitration.  Then it got an injunction against arbitration from its own newly formed tribal court,… Read More

Caballero was bound by the arbitration agreement he signed and initially with Premier Care upon admitting his mother to Premier Care's elder care facility.  Caballero cannot escape the agreement even though he claims not to understand, speak or read English, and the arbitration agreement was presented to him only in English.  If a party does not speak or understand English… Read More

Agreeing with Moritz v. Universal City Studios LLC (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 238, this decision holds that even when a contract's arbitration clause clearly and expressly delegates arbitrability questions to the arbitrator, the court must decide whether the plaintiff's claim is made under a different contract that lacks an arbitration clause.  Here, the bank sued to enforce a loan agreement in… Read More

This decision affirms dismissal of plaintiff's complaint on judicial estoppel grounds.  In prior litigation over the same award of rights to assign .africa URLs, plaintiff took the position before an international arbitration panel that plaintiff could not sue in court over the award.  That position was completely inconsistent with its current assertion of the right to sue in court over… Read More

Following O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (9th Cir. 2018) 904 F.3d 1087, this decision affirms the district court's denial of class certification in a wage and hour case.  Plaintiff and one other worker did not, but all the other putative class members did, sign an arbitration agreement with defendant containing a class action waiver.  As a result, plaintiff was not… Read More

Following Rent-A-Center West Inc. v. Jackson (2010) 130 S.Ct. 2772 and Brennan v. Opus Bank (9th Cir. 2015) 796 F.3d 1125, this decision holds that when an arbitration agreement delegates issues of arbitrability to the arbitrator, a court's first task is to determine whether the delegation clause itself (rather than the entire arbitration agreement) is enforceable.  If the delegation clause… Read More

AB 51 (Stats. 2019 ch. 711) enacted Lab. Code 432.6 which prohibits employers from requiring employees to agree to arbitration as a condition of employment, and states that it is a condition of employment if the employer requires the employee to opt out or take any affirmative step to avoid agreeing to arbitration.  Over a strong dissent, the majority opinion… Read More

This decision holds that the district court erred in denying Comcast's motion to compel arbitration even though its arbitration clause precluded customers from litigating public injunction claims in any forum.  First, the decision holds that the mere presence of the clause in the arbitration agreement does not automatically invalidate the arbitration agreement for all purposes--but rather only in cases that… Read More

Romero drove a truck for defendant employer entirely within the boundaries of California, but he delivered goods that had been shipped by interstate transportation.  Therefore, was a worker engaged in interstate commerce to whose contract of employment the FAA does not apply.  9 U.S.C. 1.  The FAA's exemption of employment contracts of workers in interstate commerce is not waivable.  So… Read More

The California Arbitration Act governs procedure in state court in compelling arbitration even when the FAA governs the substantive rules regarding arbitration.  Under CCP 1281.2(c), a trial court has discretion to deny arbitration if a party to the arbitration agreement is also a party to a pending court action with a third party, "arising out of the same transaction or… Read More

The FAA applies to an arbitration clause in an employment agreement involved in interstate commerce and preempts California Labor Code 229 which forbids arbitration of wage and hour claims.  The parties did not elect out of FAA preemption by a choice of law clause in the employment contract generally choosing California law, but not specifically choosing California law regarding arbitration… Read More

Noting that it was not clear whether an order compelling arbitration and dismissing class claims pursuant to an arbitration agreement that contained a class action waiver, the court exercised its discretion to treat the appeal as a petition for writ of mandate, but denied the petition on the merits. Read More

Chevron was not bound by a lease agreement entered into by Aramco, not Chevron, with the persons whose heirs are appellants here.  Furthermore, the lease agreement did not incorporate by reference or otherwise the arbitration clause in the concession agreement that Chevron had signed with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 13 years earlier--even though the lease was of land to… Read More

The International Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards contains a self-executing direction for the courts of the signatory states to compel arbitration of agreements falling within the Convention's scope.  Since that provision is self-executing and not an "Act of Congress," the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not reverse preempt it.  Accordingly, the Convention preempts Washington state law that… Read More

This decision affirms denial of the employer-defendant's motion to compel arbitration under an agreement that delegated arbitrability questions to the arbitrator.  The arbitration agreement and its delegation clause were both unconscionable for the same reasons.  Procedurally, the agreement was presented as an adhesion contract that employees had to sign to retain employment.  Also the agreement was nine pages of 10… Read More

Following Esparza v. KS Industries, L.P. (2017) 13 Cal.App.5th 1228, this decision holds that an employee cannot be compelled under a predispute arbitration clause to arbitrate a PAGA claim.  The FAA does not preempt this rule.  The employer failed to show that the employee who filed the suit was employed under a collective bargaining agreement so the LMRA  301 did… Read More

The district court correctly denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction before compelling arbitration of the plaintiff's wage-and-hour misclassification claims.  Plaintiff had sought an injunction requiring Uber to reclassify all its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors.  That injunction would have changed, not preserved, the status quo pending arbitration.  Also, there was no urgent need for an injunction before… Read More