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 »
Arbitration Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in arbitration, including news, key cases, and strategies.
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 »
CFPB Publishes Proposed Rule Banning Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements in Consumer Class Actions
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) published a proposed rule which would prohibit application of pre-dispute arbitration agreements to class litigation involving a broad range of consumer financial products and services. Publication of the proposed rule was expected, as the Bureau announced in October its intention to do so based on its study findings that pre-dispute arbitration agreements "effectively prohibit" class litigation and ... Keep Reading »
2016 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Reveals Important Trends in Class Action Management
The fifth annual edition of the Carlton Fields Class Action Survey has just been released, and in this year’s survey corporate counsel report that class action spending has increased after four consecutive years of decline. Spending is also projected to increase in 2016. This marks a key turning point. The Numbers Across industries, the companies surveyed report that they spent $2.1 billion on class action lawsuits in 2015. The number of companies facing at least one ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court Confirms Enforceability of Class Action Waivers
For the second time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled a California decision that refused to enforce an arbitration agreement with a class action waiver, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps California’s attempts to restrict arbitration and class action waivers in consumer and employment lawsuits. In DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, Case No. 14-462, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, upheld an ... Keep Reading »
Arbitration Awards Prove an Obstacle to Class Claims
Two recent decisions illustrate the impact arbitration provisions can have on the availability of classwide relief. In Kaspers v. Comcast Corp., plaintiff, a Comcast customer, refused to pay for certain billed services and had his debt referred to a collection agency. Plaintiff submitted the dispute to the American Arbitration Association (AAA) pursuant to a contractual arbitration provision. When the AAA refused to arbitrate due to an alleged defect in the ... Keep Reading »
Representative Action Under California’s Private Attorneys General Act Not Waived Through Employment Agreement’s Arbitration Provision
The Central District of California held that a waiver of representative actions in an employment agreement’s arbitration provision did not preclude a former employee from pursuing in court a claim under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). The court further held that the PAGA claim could only be brought in court and not in arbitration. The plaintiff asserted, on behalf of a putative class, several claims against his former employer for the alleged ... Keep Reading »