In Michael Hearn, et. al. v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reverses a recent decision from United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and ruled that a putative class action brought...
FAA
9th Circuit to Judge Regulation of Mandatory Employment Arbitration
On December 7, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument in a case of particular relevance to employers who use arbitration to resolve disputes with employees. The case, Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. v. Becerra, considers whether states...
“Last Mile” Delivery Drivers Exempt from Federal Arbitration Act
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has held that, despite never crossing state lines in the course of their duties, "last mile" delivery drivers qualify for the Federal Arbitration Act's ("FAA") exemption for transportation workers due to their...
Supreme Court Holds That Federal Arbitration Act Permits Litigation of Disputes By Workers Bound by Independent Contractor Agreements
The United States Supreme Court held in the unanimous decision of New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira earlier this year that the Federal Arbitration Act's exclusion as to contracts of employment necessitated that the parties' arbitration clause be overridden and the plaintiff...
Enforcement of International Arbitration Agreements Belongs in Federal Court
In the United States, the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") provides the rules that govern most arbitrations, and is binding on both state and federal courts. See 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. But the FAA is "something of an anomaly" in federal legislation as it "bestow[s] no...
Employers May Not Prohibit Class Actions, Holds The 7th Circuit
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently created a schism between the Circuits that may lead to the Supreme Court's intervention on an important issue: whether an employer may bar employees from bringing class action claims by requiring claims to be arbitrated. The...
Judge Vacates Major League Baseball Arbitral Award
As this blog has chronicled in the past, it is extremely difficult for an arbitral award to be vacated. The Federal Arbitration Act and many state arbitral acts provide very limited grounds for vacatur, as courts are reluctant to second-guess an arbitrator's decision....
No Expansion and No Contraction: The Scope of Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards
In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that parties cannot agree under a contract to limit the scope of judicial review of an arbitration award as delineated by the Federal Arbitration Act (the "FAA"). This ruling complements a 2008 Supreme...
Stay Classy, Eleventh Circuit: Class Arbitration Allowed
In a major decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently confirmed an arbitral award that permitted class arbitration when the underlying arbitration clause was silent on the permissibility of class arbitration. By issuing this decision in...
Challenging an Arbitration Award in Massachusetts
Alternative dispute resolution is rightly gaining steam as an efficient, fair mechanism for the resolution of complex business disputes. Many companies are redrafting their standard-form contracts to include mandatory arbitration clauses. This is particularly true for...
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