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unconscionability

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District Court (Cal.) Follows Sanchez, Denies Petition to Compel Arbitration in NOI Class Action

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Smith v. Americredit Financial Services, Inc., 2012 WL 834784 (S.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Sabraw post-Concepcion followed Sanchez in denying enforcement of an arbitration clause in an NOI class action. With respect to the first clause, the Sanchez court found it was one-sided in favor of the seller because the buyer, not the dealer, is more likely to recover an award… Read More

Supreme Court (Mo.) Holds Concepcion Permits Unconscionability Analysis, Strikes Down Automobile Title Lender’s Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Clause

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Brewer v. Missouri Title Loans, --- S.W.3d ----, 2012 WL 716878 (Mo. 2012), the Missouri Supreme Court found that Concepcion permitted unconscionability analysis as to an automobile title lender's effort to enforce a class action waiver in an arbitration clause.  The Missouri Supreme Court held, in part, that the lender's clause's reservation of self-help remedies -- often the title lender's chief… Read More

9th Circuit Finds California’s Broughton-Cruz Rule Pre-empted by FAA; Finds Concepcion Requires Arbitration of UCL Claims

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Kilgore v. KeyBank, Nat. Ass'n, --- F.3d ----, 2012 WL 718344 (9th Cir. 2012), the Court of Appeals found that California’s state law Broughton-Cruz exception to arbitration enforcement did not survive Concepcion. The facts were as follows: Plaintiffs are former students of a private helicopter vocational school located in Oakland, California, and operated by Silver State Helicopters, LLC (“SSH”).… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Rejects Contention that California Law Requires Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Clause to be Separately Highlighted

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Blau v. AT & T Mobility, 2012 WL 10546 (N.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Breyer found no unconscionability impediment to enforcing an arbitration clause with a class-action waiver in a class action case filed arising from consumer telephone contracts.   Plaintiffs filed a class action against Defendants relating to AT & T's alleged aggressive marketing of “their service to users of… Read More

Court of Appeal Grants Petition for Re-hearing in Sanchez v. Valencia regarding Unconscionability of Arbitration Clause in Vehicle RISC

by Scott J. Hyman |

On November 18, 2011, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District ordered re-hearing on the Sanchez matter, apparently denying the Dealer's Petition but granting re-hearing on his own motion.  The docket is set forth below. 11/08/2011 Rehearing petition filed.   by aplt Valencia Holding Co. 11/10/2011 Letter sent to counsel re:   The court requests that each party… Read More

Court of Appeal (Cal.) Finds Arbitration Clause Unconscionable in Automobile Retail Installment Sales Contract

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Sanchez v. Valencia Holding Co., LLC, 2011 WL 5027488 (2011), the California Court of Appeal found that Concepcion did not eliminate states' rights to address issues of unconcionability in arbitration clauses and, therefore, found that the arbitration clause in a LawPrinting retail installment sales contract for the purchase of an automobile was procedurally and substantively unconscionable.  Sanchez involved a class… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Enforces Arbitration Clause with Class Action Waiver against CLRA Claim; Denies Discovery Targeted to Defendant on Issue of Unconscionability

by Scott J. Hyman |

It's not an auto finance case, as it involves the CLRA and enforcement of an arbitration clause post-Concepcion, and both issues arise in automobile and personal property finance, I'm reporting on it for my readers.    In Khan v. Orkin Exterminating Co., Inc., 2011 WL 4853365 (N.D.Cal. 2011), Judge Armstrong held that Concepcion preempted required enforcement of an arbitration clause… Read More

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