Litigants can waive their right to arbitrate through litigation conduct, a recent U.S. District Court decision reminded us. Much to the dissatisfaction of an au pair agency defending against a putative class action by foreign childcare workers alleging violations of...
Arbitration
U.S. Appeals Court Finds Undisclosed Familiarity Among Co-Arbitrators and Counsel Insufficient Ground for Arbitration Award Vacatur Under Federal Arbitration Act or New York Convention
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied vacatur and confirmed an arbitration award despite the non-prevailing party’s allegations that the arbitral tribunal members failed to disclose that they had been seated with one another on other, unrelated...
Clickwrap Agreements Come Under Scrutiny in Massachusetts.
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC”) heard oral arguments in Good v. Uber Technologies, Inc. et al. At issue is whether Uber’s in-app pop-up screen provides to its customers reasonable notice of the terms of use containing, among other...
Appeals Court Enforces Arbitration Agreement Executed by Spanish-Speaking Party Even When No Translation Was Provided
Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution where the parties agree in advance that any dispute between them will be decided in a private proceeding by a neutral third party called an arbitrator. By signing an arbitration agreement, the parties waive the right to...
Fourth Circuit Upholds Arbitration Provision for Amazon Contractor
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently ruled that an arbitration clause in a contract between Amazon and an independently owned package delivery businesses was enforceable, notwithstanding the Federal Arbitration Act’s (FAA) exemption for...
United States Supreme Court Holds RICO May Be Used In Aid of International Arbitration Award Enforcement
The Supreme Court of the United States recently held in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin that a plaintiff alleged a domestic injury for the purposes of RICO in a case where the activities undertaken to evade enforcement of an international arbitration award occurred in...
Nonsignatories May Nevertheless Be Bound By Arbitration Clause, First Circuit Warns
A dispute between New Balance and its Peruvian distributor recently gave the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reason to consider whether Massachusetts law would compel nonsignatories to comply with the arbitration clauses of other entities. In the case...
Enforcement of Emergency Arbitration Awards
US courts continue to be divided on the enforceability of emergency arbitration awards. As addressed in previous writings, in 2019 the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia refused to enforce an international Emergency Award in the Al Raha case,...
Massachusetts Appeals Court Concludes Employment Agreement Falls Within Purview of Federal Arbitration Act
In a recent unpublished decision, reversing a Superior Court decision, the Massachusetts Appeals Court concluded that certain agreements did not constitute “contracts of employment” and, therefore, were subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In Cuneo v....
Issuance of Letters Rogatory: Final and Appealable
A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court in one country to a court in another country to perform some act. In the United States, common types of letters rogatory are requests for evidence, often document requests. Often, such letters rogatory seek documents...
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