Labor Code sections 558 and 1197.1, allow the Labor Commissioner to sue for set civil penalties in addition to an amount sufficient to recover underpaid wages if an employer fails to pay overtime wages or minimum wages as required by California law. This decision holds that in a PAGA suit, the employee plaintiff may recover only the set civil penalty… Read More
When the arbitration agreement delegates arbitrability issues to the arbitrator, a court must compel arbitration even if it finds the argument that the dispute is arbitrable to be “wholly groundless.” Read More
Delegation provision in the insurance contract’s arbitration clause was void because it was added by an endorsement that had not been filed with or approved by the Insurance Commissioner. Read More
The deadline for moving to vacate an arbitration award under the FAA is the same date as the third month after the award is issued unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. Read More
A broad arbitration clause in plaintiff's employment agreement was ended by the separation agreement which plaintiff signed on leaving the company's employment, so it did not govern plaintiff’s later claims that defendants breached their fiduciary duties owed to him as a minority shareholder. Read More
Trial court correctly compelled arbitration of plaintiff’s medical malpractice claim, after it was unpersuaded by plaintiff’s argument that she didn’t see or read arbitration warning in her contract with the physician. Read More
As the arbitration agreement did not delegate arbitrability to the arbitrator, the arbitrator erred in deciding a dispute was not arbitrable rather than deciding the merits of the dispute, and the party submitting the dispute to arbitration could raise that error as a ground for vacating the award. Read More
The arbitration clause in a law firm’s partnership agreement was unconscionable and unenforceable because it required the lawyer/partner to pay half the arbitration costs and her own attorney fees, because it restricted the arbitrators’ ability to “override” or “substitute [their] judgment” for that of the law firm’s management, and it required confidentiality about all arbitrations. Read More
Law firm’s investigative due diligence report, completed prior to an acquisition to determine whether target company was in possession of another’s protected trade secrets, is not protected from discovery by any attorney-client privilege because it was jointly directed by and shared with opposing parties in the acquisition negotiations; and it was not protected by the work product privilege because it… Read More
Law firm’s investigative due diligence report, completed prior to an acquisition to determine whether target company was in possession of another’s protected trade secrets, is not protected from discovery by any attorney-client privilege because it was jointly directed by and shared with opposing parties in the acquisition negotiations; and it was not protected by the work product privilege because it… Read More
