Jean Sternlight and one of my students sent me this link from Sesame Street in which Justice Sotomayor engages in some “dispute resolution”. Seems more like evaluative mediation to me. Very amusing! Goldilocks Avoids Criminal Sanction When Sotomayor Judges Dispute on Sesame Street http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/goldilocks_avoids_criminal_sanction_when_sotomayor_judges_dispute_on_sesame/
A federal judge in Manhattan has denied summary judgment in an antitrust suit against Citigroup and Discover Bank alleging that they conspired with other banks to add arbitration clauses to their credit card agreements in order to curb class actions. The case alleges that the banks formed an “Arbitration Coalition” that met multiple times between … Continue reading Credit Card Arbitration Antitrust Suit Goes Forward
The Langdon Fellow Program at Ohio State is just great, and I’m pleased to share that they are seeking applications for a new fellow. A recent email from Sarah Cole announcing the position is pasted below. MM —– Job Description: Langdon Fellowship in Dispute Resolution at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law … Continue reading Langdon Fellow at Ohio State
As you may know, a task force of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Law Schools Committee has been working on the Legal Education, ADR, and Problem Solving (LEAPS) Project for almost two years. (I am a member of that Task Force and on the Executive Committee.) Our goal has been to increase the instruction … Continue reading LEAPSing at your Law School
The National Law Journal’s online edition ran a story this morning (available here, text pasted below) about the more then $3 billion the federal government paid out in settlements in 2011. The Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Interior led the way in settling “mega-cases,” payment for which apparently comes from the Judgment Fund. I’ve been … Continue reading >$3B in Federal Settlements Last Year
Yesterday I mentioned that I heard Schwab sued FINRA in federal court for declaratory relief regarding the validity of its class action waiver in the arbitration clause of its customer agreement. Schwab claims that the FAA and the Supreme Court’s decisions in AT&T Mobility and CompuCredit trump FINRA’s rules. You can download the complaint, filed … Continue reading Schwab’s Complaint Against FINRA
There appears to be some life left in the “vindication of statutory rights” argument following Concepcion and Stolt-Nielsen after all! The Second Circuit, in In re: American Express Merchants’ Litigation, 06-1871 (2d Cir. 2012), held that a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement can be ruled unconscionable if the plaintiff (here, a merchant) can … Continue reading Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Agreement Unconscionable
Yesterday I reported on FINRA’s enforcement action against Charles Schwab for inserting a class action waiver in its customer PDAAs. Today I hear that Schwab filed an action in federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that it’s class action waiver is lawful. Schwab offered to pay its customers’ arbitration filing fees pending the outcome of … Continue reading Schwab countersues FINRA
In a very interesting development with implications for the fate of class action waivers in the securities dispute context, FINRA Enforcement filed a complaint today against broker-dealer and FINRA member Charles Schwab for including a class action waiver in its customer agreement. Schwab had amended its customer agreement to include the class action waiver in October … Continue reading FINRA Brings Enforcement Action Against Charles Schwab For Class Action Waiver in its Customer Agreement
I would be remiss in my duties as director of the Moritz College of Law if I did not offer my congratulations to the student winners of the annual CPR academic awards — both of whom are members of the Moritz College of Law class of 2011. From our press release: Michael Diamond ’11 wrote … Continue reading Moritz College of Law Students win CPR Awards
