The Second Circuit recently affirmed the denial of motions to compel arbitration filed by, inter alia, the Trump Corp. and a nonparty from whom the plaintiffs sought discovery....more
The Eleventh Circuit recently declined a rental car company’s attempt to invoke an arbitration clause in Orbitz.com’s terms of use in a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled customer who booked his rental car through Orbitz...more
An employer was able to enforce an arbitration agreement without an employee’s signature and even though one of the parties in the lawsuit was also a non-signatory to the agreement....more
A federal court recently refused to compel arbitration after it concluded that there had been no refusal to arbitrate. The court also refused to appoint arbitrators for the parties....more
The Supreme Court of Mississippi has reversed and remanded a trial court’s refusal to enforce an arbitration agreement after rejecting the plaintiff’s arguments against arbitration. The Court also instructed the trial court...more
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the denial of a motion to arbitrate where the appellants were not parties to the agreements containing arbitration clauses. The court also concluded that equitable...more
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to enforce an arbitration agreement because it impermissibly limited claims to those available under tribal law at the expense of federal statutory claims. The court also...more
The First Circuit vacated an order compelling arbitration after finding that the arbitrator selection clause was unconscionable. The court nevertheless remanded the case to the district court to determine if the selection...more
7/29/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitrator Selection Disputes ,
Arbitrators ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Forum Selection ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Motion to Compel ,
Puerto Rico ,
Remand ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Vacated
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently declined to compel arbitration in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action with respect to more than 70 employees for whom the defendant employer could not produce signed...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration against insurers but not brokers related to a commercial insurance dispute....more
6/19/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Insurance Brokers ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Lloyds of London ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Non-Signatories ,
Policy Terms ,
Property Damage ,
Unconscionable Contracts
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that equitable estoppel doctrines can be invoked by non-signatories seeking to compel arbitration under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards....more
6/17/2020
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments ,
Equitable Estoppel ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA LLC ,
Motion to Compel ,
New York Convention ,
Non-Signatories ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Subcontractors
The Fifth Circuit has rejected challenges under Article V of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards to a Swedish arbitration award....more
The Fifth Circuit has suggested that the question of class arbitrability was for the arbitrator, not the court, based on the language of the arbitration clause at issue. The court ultimately concluded, however, that it did...more
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has compelled arbitration over a party’s objection that the dispute at issue was not within the scope of the arbitration clause and that arbitration was...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska recently granted a defendant’s motion to compel arbitration despite a plaintiff’s claims that she had never seen or signed the employment agreement containing the...more
The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the confirmation of an arbitration award in a dispute involving a contract to obtain signatures for a Florida solar energy ballot initiative over claims that the prevailing party engaged...more
3/27/2020
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Ballot Measures ,
Contract Disputes ,
Florida ,
Fraud ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Solar Energy
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration despite an insured’s claim that the operative arbitration clause was unconscionable because it required the arbitration panel to...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently refused to compel arbitration in a putative class action based on an arbitration clause a plaintiff agreed to on a third party’s website he used to book a...more
The First Circuit recently denied a corporation’s numerous arguments seeking to vacate an arbitration award in favor of the individual who sold an entity to the corporation. The court’s decision reflected the narrow review of...more
2/24/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Award Challenges ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Blocking Power ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Contract Disputes ,
Damages ,
Manifest Disregard ,
Motion to Vacate ,
Securities Transactions
The Ninth Circuit recently denied a motion to compel arbitration after concluding that an arbitration agreement “buried” in difficult to access terms for a smartphone app did not put users on constructive notice that they...more
1/28/2020
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Constructive Notice ,
Contract Terms ,
Gambling ,
Mobile Apps ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Smartphones ,
Statutory Violations ,
Terms of Use
The Connecticut Supreme Court will consider whether the parties to an arbitration agreement can circumvent Connecticut’s 30-day statutory deadline for filing an application to vacate an arbitration award by including in the...more
12/12/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
CT Supreme Court ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motion to Vacate ,
Statute of Limitations
The Eight Circuit has rejected a plaintiff’s claim that an arbitration clause in a retainer agreement she signed with a law firm after receiving a call from a purported agent of the firm informing her of a purported...more
12/11/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Ethics Breach ,
Jury Trial ,
Legal Ethics ,
Legal Representatives ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Professional Liability ,
Retainer Fees ,
Transvaginal Mesh ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Waiver of Rights
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas compelled arbitration in a putative Fair Labor Standards Act class action based on language in a “notice to employees” that put the plaintiffs on notice that they...more
11/19/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Binding Arbitration ,
Contract Terms ,
Electronic Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Illusory Contracts ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Unconscionable Contracts
The U.S. District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands recently compelled arbitration after concluding that a personal guaranty incorporated an arbitration agreement from an underlying contract and rejecting various...more
The Southern District of New York declined to decide arbitrability questions after the arbitration agreement at issue incorporated the rules of the American Arbitration Association, which include a rule that arbitrators...more
9/19/2019
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Copyright ,
Jurisdiction ,
License Agreements ,
Motion to Compel ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restraining Orders ,
Software Developers ,
Stays ,
The Copyright Act ,
Waivers