After an employer allegedly released personally identifiable information of its employees as the result of a phishing scam, plaintiff employee filed a putative class action lawsuit, alleging claims including negligence, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, and other claims. The employer moved to compel bilateral arbitration pursuant to the arbitration agreement plaintiff signed in connection with his employment. The district court found that the arbitration agreement ... Keep Reading »
Arbitration Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in arbitration, including news, key cases, and strategies.
No Treat for CFPB: Trump, Congress Override Rule on Class Action Waivers
On November 1, President Trump signed legislation disapproving a CFPB rule designed to prohibit class action waivers in certain consumer financial services contracts. In so doing, Trump rejected a last minute personal appeal from Obama-appointed CFPB head Richard Cordray to save the rule. The legislation had been awaiting the President’s signature since October 24, when Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote on a Senate-approved resolution under the ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Doesn’t Waffle on Enforceability of Arbitration Agreement
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal found that an arbitration agreement entered into by a putative class representative and his eventual employer was enforceable even though the agreement was signed after the plaintiff filed his class action suit. The court found that the arbitration agreement included a valid delegation provision that evidenced the parties' intent to arbitrate all gateway issues of arbitrability. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's ... Keep Reading »
Future of CFPB’s Arbitration Rule Unknown as Republicans Eye Congressional Review Act
On June 10, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a final rule attacking the use of class action waivers in arbitration clauses in certain consumer contracts. The new rule prohibits covered providers of consumer financial products or services, such as credit cards and bank accounts, from using arbitration clauses in consumer contracts to require consumers to resolve their disputes individually, rather than on a classwide basis. Specifically, ... Keep Reading »
Circuit Court Gives Red Light to TruGreen’s Motion to Compel Arbitration
The Sixth Circuit recently reversed a decision by the District Court for the Western District of Tennessee ordering arbitration in a putative class action lawsuit. Plaintiff brought a lawsuit against her lawn care services provider for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when she received telemarketing calls from the company after terminating the parties’ contract and registering her number with the National Do-Not-Call Registry. She also sought ... Keep Reading »
SCOTUS to Determine Enforceability of Class Action Waivers in Employment Contract Arbitration Clauses
Today the United States Supreme Court granted and consolidated three petitions for certiorari related to the validity of class action waiver clauses in employer/employee arbitration agreements. The Court has consolidated the petitions in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (No. 16-285), Ernst & Young v. Morris (No. 16-300), and NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. (No. 16-307). Classified previously blogged about the Ninth Circuit’s decision finding Ernst & Young’s class ... Keep Reading »
Ninth Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc, Requires Ex-Uber Drivers to Arbitrate Claims Individually
The Ninth Circuit denied rehearing en banc of its September order holding that the district court erred in deciding whether two drivers who sued Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) on behalf of themselves and a putative class over the use of background checks must arbitrate their claims individually. The consolidated cases concerned both 2013 and 2014 versions of agreements Uber drivers were required to sign. The agreements included mandatory arbitration clauses, and class ... Keep Reading »
Divergent Views on Class Discovery
In two recent cases, California and Florida district courts reached divergent views on whether to permit wide-ranging class discovery prior to a certification decision. Interestingly, both decisions involved Ocwen companies. In Weiner, a RICO class action, the class plaintiffs sought discovery of defendants’ “internal communications relating to their decision to spin-off” a subsidiary because those communications ostensibly bore on “classwide intent to fraudulently ... Keep Reading »
Disgruntled Timeshare Owner’s Bid for Class Arbitration Thwarted
On August 30, the Northern District of California thwarted a disgruntled timeshare owner’s attempt to arbitrate her dispute against a timeshare developer on a classwide basis. A timeshare purchaser alleged that Wyndham, the timeshare developer, improperly changed her “use year” and demanded an arbitration. Wyndham responded by filing a declaratory judgment action against the purchaser and also filed a motion to compel the purchaser to arbitrate her individual claims and ... Keep Reading »
Adding to Circuit Split, Divided Ninth Circuit Finds Concerted Action Waiver in Ernst & Young’s Employment Agreement Unenforceable Under NLRA
Ernst & Young’s (“E&Y”) employment agreements contained “separate proceedings” and arbitration provisions, which together required that disputes be resolved individually through arbitration, rather than collectively through some other forum. Despite entering such an agreement, an employee filed a class action against E&Y in federal court, alleging that he and other employees had been misclassified and denied overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor ... Keep Reading »