Across industries, companies spent $2 billion on class action lawsuits in 2014, slightly less than the $2.1 billion they spent in 2013. This year, spending is expected to return to 2013 levels. Companies’ class action dockets increased on average by one new case in 2014, bringing the average number of class actions managed to five. This total is expected to remain constant in 2015, as the number of new matters is likely to be offset by those resolved. As before, ... Keep Reading »
Arbitration Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in arbitration, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Question Certified To Second Circuit: Does The Court Or The Arbitrator Decide Whether An Arbitration Agreement Permits Class Arbitration?
In the Second Circuit, as in other jurisdictions, only exceptional circumstances will justify a departure from the basic policy of postponing appellate review until after the entry of a final judgment. A New York federal district court recently encountered such circumstances in connection with a motion to certify an interlocutory appeal of an order compelling arbitration. Plaintiffs filed a demand for class arbitration and defendants filed a competing motion to compel ... Keep Reading »
CFPB Says Arbitration Agreements Limit Consumer Relief in Class Actions; New Regulations on the Horizon?
The Supreme Court's 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion upheld an arbitration clause requiring arbitration of claims individually, thereby effectively preventing class actions. While the consumer finance industry and other industries frequently invoked arbitration clauses in defending lawsuits before AT&T, since that decision was published, industry has increasingly relied on such clauses to successfully defend against expensive class ... Keep Reading »
Eleventh Circuit Holds That Defendant Cannot Be Precluded From Asserting Its Arbitration Rights Against Future Class Members
The Eleventh Circuit recently held that a district court lacked jurisdiction to determine, pre-certification, that a defendant’s waiver of its right to compel named plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims precluded it from asserting its arbitration rights against putative unnamed class members. The case involved five putative class actions against the defendant bank and its predecessor related to allegedly improper checking account overdraft fees. Plaintiffs’ customer ... Keep Reading »
California’s Inconsistent Treatment of Pre-Dispute Waivers in Arbitration Agreements Will Remain in Place
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant review in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, leaving in place a California Supreme Court holding that pre-dispute arbitration agreements cannot require employees to waive their right to bring a representative action on behalf of themselves and other "aggrieved employees" under California's Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Following U.S. Supreme Court precedent interpreting the Federal Arbitration ... Keep Reading »
Third Circuit Denies Employees’ Petition For Rehearing In Class Arbitration Case
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied a petition for rehearing by the panel and the Court en banc in the Opalinski v Robert Half International, Inc. matter, where last month it held that the availability of class arbitration is a substantive question of arbitrability for the court (not the arbitrator) to decide, absent clear agreement otherwise. See our prior post about that opinion here. Opalinski v. Robert Half International, Inc., No. 12-4444 (3d ... Keep Reading »
The Third Circuit Joins The Sixth And Holds That The Availability Of Class Arbitration Is A Substantive Question Of Arbitrability For Courts To Decide, Absent Clear Agreement Otherwise
“Because of the fundamental differences between classwide and individual arbitration, and the consequences of proceeding with one rather than the other, … the availability of classwide arbitration is a substantive ‘question of arbitrability’ to be decided by a court absent clear agreement otherwise,” the Third Circuit held. Two former Robert Half International, Inc. (“RHI”) employees brought an action, on behalf of themselves and others, alleging that RHI failed to ... Keep Reading »
California Law on Arbitration Changes … Again
The California Supreme Court this week confirmed the validity of an employee's waiver of the right to bring a class action contained in an arbitration agreement. That's the good news for employers. However, the court also held that these arbitration agreements may not include a waiver of an employee's right to bring representative claims under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), found at Section 2698-99 of the California Labor Code. That is not good news and ... Keep Reading »
District Court Applies Gulf Oil to Restrict Issuance of Arbitration Agreements to Prospective Class Members
Drivers brought a putative class action suit against Uber Technologies (“Uber”), the licensor of a software application used to connect drivers for hire with passengers, alleging that Uber failed to remit to drivers the full amount of gratuities paid by passengers. The court’s recent decision involved a licensing agreement that, in the wake of pending class actions, was given to prospective drivers who downloaded the app and required that all disputes be resolved ... Keep Reading »