Jean Sternlight passes this along this call for papers for what looks like an interesting symposium. ——————————————————————– Forced Arbitration In The Workplace: A Symposium About the Symposium The Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law (BJELL) and The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy (The Institute) will be holding a symposium on February 27, … Continue reading Call for Papers – Forced Arbitration in the Workplace
Friend of Indisputably Hiro Aragaki (Loyola, Los Angeles) shares his thoughts on Imre Szalai’s (Loyola, New Orleans) new book Outsourcing Justice: The Rise of Modern Arbitration Laws in America. And don’t forget to follow Imre’s blog of the same name (outsourcingjustice.com) which most appropriately states “By reading this blog, you agree to arbitrate. (Just kidding)” … Continue reading Aragaki on Szalai’s Outsourcing Justice: The Rise of Modern Arbitration Laws in America
The SEC has published for public comment a rule change proposal filed by FINRA to alter the arbitrator selection method in three-arbitrator customer cases. Comments are due by July 11, 2013. Currently, customers must elect a panel composition method at the beginning of a case, with the default method being the Majority Public Panel option that results in one … Continue reading SEC Seeks Public Comment on Arbitrator Selection Rule Proposal
Responding to substantial pressure from regulators and the investing public, the brokerage firm Charles Schwab reversed itself and eliminated the class action waiver clause from its pre-dispute arbitration clause in its customer account agreements. See news coverage here. Readers of this blog know from my previous posts that in early 2012 FINRA brought a disciplinary … Continue reading Schwab removes class action waiver from customer agreements
Once again, a bill to ban mandatory arbitration of consumer, employment and civil rights disputes has been introduced into both houses of Congress. It is sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA). The text is not yet available, but the press release states the following: “What the Arbitration Fairness Act Does: … Continue reading Arbitration Fairness Act of 2013 introduced in Congress
At the 2012 AALS meetings Ron Aronovsky (Southwestern) organized the ADR Section’s program entitled The Supreme Court and the Future of Arbitration. Here’s a short blurb describing the program. Over the past twenty five years, the range of disputes subject to binding arbitration – particularly as a result of pre-dispute arbitration agreements — has grown … Continue reading The Supreme Court and the Future of Arbitration
As I argued in a recent post, Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard, 568 U.S. ___ (2012), is another in an increasingly long line of cases that trample on state sovereignty in the name of the Supreme Court’s fabricated “federal policy favoring arbitration.” The question for state courts chafing under this regime is whether legal strategies exist … Continue reading Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard: Forum Selection and the FAA Savings Clause
As Jill Gross suggested in her post the other day, there is nothing novel about the Supreme Court’s per curiam decision in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard, 568 U.S. ___ (2012). And the fact that the case seems unexceptional is powerful evidence for how extreme the Supreme Court’s arbitration jurisprudence has become. Like most states, Oklahoma has … Continue reading Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard: The Arbitration Locomotive Rolls On
Another guest posting from FOI Jean Sternlight (UNLV). ————————- With the demise of class actions (thank you Supreme Court in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion) consumer advocates are struggling to find a way to continue to fight corporate malfeasance. Several consumer advocates have formed an organization, Consumers Count, which is designed to help unite multiple consumers … Continue reading Class Actions are Dead, Long Live Social Media?
Last winter, I wrote about the Delaware Court of Chancery’s arbitration scheme, in which the court hired out its Chancery Judges to serve as “private” arbitrators, deciding in secret cases they otherwise would have been deciding in public, with proceeds from the five-figure fees going into court coffers. The scheme was a grotesque, if predictable, … Continue reading A Stumble in the March of Adjudicative Privatization: Delaware Chancery Arbitration Scheme Declared Unconstitutional
