Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: “Accidental Arbitration” -- A New Theory that Would Rein in Consumer Arbitration Clauses and the Scope of the FAA
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: A Discussion of Industry and Consumer Perspectives on Mass Arbitration
California Employment News: The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
Podcast: California Employment News - The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
#WorkforceWednesday: NLRB Focuses on Severance Agreements, Supreme Court Opens Overtime to HCEs, Ninth Circuit Rejects CA's Mandatory Arbitration Ban - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS Rules on PAGA, Fifth Circuit Rules on COVID-19 Under WARN, Illinois Expands Bereavement Leave - Employment Law This Week®
California Employment News: US Supreme Court “Viking River” Decision Brings PAGA Relief for CA Employers
#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC COVID-19 Charges Surge, NYC’s Pay Transparency Law, SCOTUS Considers PAGA - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: New Law on Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Claims, Cyber War Ramps Up, Salaried Nonexempt Status - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law Now VI-114-Banning Arbitration of Sexual Harassment/Assault Claims
Update and Discussion on Legal and Practical Issues
DE Under 3: OFCCP Contractor Portal & Request for Comments for Functional Affirmative Action Programs (FAAPs)
Employment Law This Week®: FAA Arguably Preempts California Law, New CA Employment Laws for 2020, CA Consumer Privacy Act Amended
Bilateral arbitration is under increasing attack. While businesses evaluate whether and how to update their arbitration clauses in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's October decision in Heckman v. Live...more
The war against arbitration agreements continues apace. The latest volley comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Johnson v. Continental Finance Company, LLC, No. 23-2047 (4th Cir. Mar. 11, 2025). In...more
On January 27, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a significant opinion holding that the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) does not prohibit the enforcement of arbitration...more
For the past decade, many courts have found class action waivers in consumer contracts to be valid and enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. However, recently, the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas in Pittsburgh...more
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Supreme Court held in Pace v. Hamilton Cove that class action waivers in consumer contracts that do not contain an arbitration clause (i.e., a stand-alone class action waiver) are not per se...more
Our special guest is Professor Richard Frankel of Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and the author of a recent article on mass arbitration. In this episode, we first discuss what mass arbitration is, how it...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s ruling, which had denied a motion to compel arbitration of Opportunity Financial (OppFi) on the basis that the arbitration clause was...more
We previously reported and released a podcast episode on comments that we and Professor David Sherwyn of Cornell University submitted in opposition to the Petition for Rulemaking filed by a number of consumer advocacy groups...more
Ballard Spahr Senior Counsel Alan S. Kaplinsky and Mark J. Levin, and David Sherwyn, Professor of Law at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, today submitted lengthy comments to the Consumer Financial...more
A Rhode Island federal district court recently refused to enforce a stand-alone class action waiver in the consumer plaintiff’s automobile lease agreement on the ground that it violates state public policy. The court in...more
Earlier this month, in Fama v. Opportunity Financial LLC, a Magistrate Judge of the federal district court for the Western District of Washington held that the arbitration provision in OppFi’s installment loan agreement is...more
Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications - Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Bielski requires that district court litigation in any matter remain in the starting gate while any appeal from a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in...more
Earlier last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses...more
Professor Jeff Sovern recently blogged about the FTC’s June 2023 revisions to its Endorsement Guide. The Guide helps advertisers and endorsers make sure that their advertising using endorsements or testimonials is truthful...more
Two companion bills titled the “Consumer and Small Business Protection Act” have been introduced in the New York legislature would make sweeping changes to the provisions of the state’s general business law (Section 349)...more
Arbitration provisions are common features of commercial agreements. Arbitration is often touted as a cost-effective alternative to litigation that provides contract parties the freedom to decide everything from what law the...more
The Supreme Court will consider several cases affecting the consumer financial services industry in its upcoming term, which starts October 5. The cases involve substantive issues of liability to consumers, questions relating...more
Focus areas included FCRA, Fair Lending, ancillary fees and services (such as lender placed flood insurance), TCPA, privacy and data security and other topics. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Director Kathleen...more
A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter”...more
This past Friday, by a vote of 225-186, the House passed H.R. 1423, the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act.” A Senate companion bill (S. 610) was introduced in February 2019 and referred to the Senate Judiciary...more
On November 1, President Trump formally did away with a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) arbitration rule that would have given consumers the opportunity to file class actions against banks and other companies in...more
The latest large consumer data breach, this time involving Equifax, has also shed a sharp light on an ongoing controversy about consumers’ access to justice. In taking steps to ameliorate its PR crisis, Equifax found itself...more
Yesterday the Senate struck down a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) rule which would have prohibited providers of financial products and services from including class action waivers in their arbitration...more
The Senate voted on Tuesday, October 24, to repeal the CFPB’s Arbitration Rule first proposed in May of 2016 and issued in its final form in July. The rule would have imposed limitations on the use of pre-dispute arbitration...more