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
I know this is an ADR board, but ADR programs have clinics too. If you know any clinicians (or non-clinicians) who might be interested our upcoming program, please forward the announcement for the Southwest Jr. Clinicians Conference below. Have you been a clinician for less than ten years? If so come and join us at … Continue reading Southwest Jr. Clinicians Conference – March 16, 2012 at Arizona State
The consensus had been the Consumer Financial Products Board, finally (but perhaps temporarily) able to act since the recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Director, would have too much on its plate to move quickly on its Congressional mandate to study consumer arbitration in financial services agreements. But Cordray was quoted in a Washington Post … Continue reading Will the CFPB Take Action on Mandatory Arbitration?
Friend of Indisputably, Kristen Blankley, provides this guest post on an two new cell phone apps to keep important information at your fingertips. Who says that the answers to complicated questions arising from negotiation strategy and legal ethics cannot be answered at the tip of your fingers? Thanks to two recently developed apps, they can. The first … Continue reading Negotiation and Ethics – in the Palm of Your Hand?
From the Global Arbitration Review (1/16/12): “The world’s first specialist centre to resolve disputes arising from complex financial transactions has opened in The Hague. PRIME Finance – the Panel for Recognised International Market Experts – was declared open for business today by the Dutch minister of finance, Jan Kees de Jager. It will draw on … Continue reading New Dispute Resolution Center for Complex Financial Transactions Opens in The Hague
Earlier this month, the NLRB ruled that employers may not require employees to consent to the waiver of class rights as part of an employment arbitration agreement. The NLRB’s rationale was that the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Norris-LaGuardia Act guarantee employees the right to enforce their provisions through collective action. Now, in Sutherland … Continue reading SDNY Invalidates Class Waiver for FLSA Claim
