Arbitration

Defendant waived its right to compel arbitration by participating in a putative class action for 24 months after service before moving to compel arbitration.  It could not excuse the delay on its belated discovery of the arbitration agreement bearing plaintiff's signature sisnce it alleged arbitration as an affirmative defense in its answer, knew that when plaintiff was hired its policy… Read More

This decision reverses a judgment confirming an arbitration award on the ground that the award violates public policy.  The award interpreted a provision of the union's memorandum of understanding with plaintiff department to mean that after one year the employing state agency not only had to delete negative material from the employee's file but also barred the agency from retaining… Read More

The trial court properly confirmed an arbitration award.  Contrary to the loser's claim, the fact that many years before the arbitrator had been a founding member of and lawyer for GLAAD, an LBGTQ organization, was not a fact that the arbitrator should have disclosed as showing potential for bias.  The case did not involve any LBGTQ issues, and the loser's… Read More

The decision affirms an order denying a nursing facility's motion to compel arbitration. The son and wife separately signed admission papers for the patient, including an arbitration agreement.  To overcome the trial court's finding that the patient had not authorized the son and wife to act for him in that regard, on appeal the defendant would have to show it's… Read More

This decision affirms an order denying an employer's motion to compel arbitration in a wage and hour case. Though the employer called the plaintiff an independent contractor, the relationship was close enough to an employment relationship to make the Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83 standards of unconscionability applicable.  The arbitration provision was procedurally unconscionable… Read More

In Omstead v. Dell, Inc., 594 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2010), the Ninth Circuit had held that a plaintiff, against whom the district court had entered an order compelling arbitration, could take an appeal from that otherwise unappealable order by dismissing all his claims with prejudice.  Now, reviewing that same question in light of Microsoft Corp. v. Baker (2017) 137… Read More

The State of California is the real party in interest in a qui tam action brought by a private party under the Insurance Fraud Protection Act (Ins. Code 1871 et seq.).  The state is not bound by an arbitration provision in a contract signed by the private party bringing the qui tam action.  Accordingly, arbitration of the qui tam action… Read More

To admit her disabled, ill brother, for whom she acted as conservator, to a skilled nursing facility, plaintiff signed an admission agreement as well as two arbitration agreements, one for medical malpractice disputes, the other for all other disputes.  Plaintiff sued after the facility's poor care led to her brother's death.  The trial court denied the facility's motion to compel… Read More

This decision holds that the trial court correctly denied enforcement of an arbitration clause in a contraxt for other than medical services because the arbitration clause was one of the standard terms of the contract, on the reverse side, while the customer signed the agreement only on the front side.  The arbitration clause was in the same 8-pt. types as… Read More

If a defendant unsuccessfully moves to compel arbitration of a lawsuit filed against it, the lawsuit continues in court.  So for purposes of Civ. Code 1717, the plaintiff does not become the prevailing party on the contract simply by defeating the motion to compel arbitration.  However, if not yet having been sued, a party files an independent petition to compel… Read More