In Mission Viejo Emergency Medical Associates v. Beta Healthcare Group___ Cal.App.4th ___ (2011), the Court of Appeal reversed an order denying a motion to compel arbitration in a non-class-action case. As to Concepcion,, the Court of Appeal stated: We invited the parties to provide their comments on the recent United States Supreme Court case, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011)… Read More
In Estrella v. Freedom Financial, 2011 WL 2633643 (N.D.Cal. 2011), Judge Illston granted a petition to arbitrate following 27 months of class action litigation. Even though the Court had granted class certification and notice had been sent to the classmembers, Judge Illston followed Concepcion, and found no waiver of the right to arbitrate. In Concepcion, the Supreme Court said… Read More
In Wolf v. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., 2011 WL 2490939 (D.N.J. 2011), Judge DeBenedictis applied Concepcion to stay a class action matter, and order same to arbitration. In Wolf, Matthew S. Wolf, filed a class action suit against Defendant NMAC alleging violations to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C.App. §§ 501 et seq. (or, “SCRA”). Nissan moved to dismiss… Read More
In Rota-McLarty v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., 2011 WL 2133698 (D.Md. 2011), Judge Quarles held that an auto finance company waived its right to arbitrate by participating in the litigation and discovery process before filing its petition to arbitrate: Santander argues that it initially participated in this class litigation because it feared that an arbitrator would have compelled… Read More
In Arellano v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., 2011 WL 1842712 (N.D. Cal. 2011), Judge Alsup held that the United States Supreme Court meant what it said in Concepcion – state laws can not impose impediments to arbitration lest such laws be preempted. Judge Alsup took the next step beyond Concepcion, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts any state-law impediment to arbitration… Read More
Severson & Werson analyze the impact of Concepcion in an E-Alert here. Read More
The United States Supreme Court issued its 5-4 opinion in AT&T v. Concepcion today, holding that the Federal Arbitration Act pre-empts California's Discover Bank rule. Justice Scalia authored the opinion, joined by justices Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito. Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented. A copy of the opinion can be found here, but the syllabus summarizes the Court's holding as… Read More
In Picardi v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court of State, ex rel. County of Clark, --- P.3d ----, 2011 WL 1205284 (Nev. 2011), the Nevada Supreme Court struck down an arbitration clause in an automobile retail installment sales contract on the basis that the class action arbitration clause violated Nevada state public policy. The Supreme Court set the stage for the… Read More
In In re American Express Merchants' Litigation, --- F.3d ----, 2011 WL 781698 (2d Cir. 2011) ,the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit invalidated a class action waiver in a merchant credit card agreement on remand following the Supreme Court’s decision in Stolt-Nielsen. The Court of Appeals framed the issue as its considering “the enforcement of a mandatory arbitration… Read More
In Cardenas v. AmeriCredit Financial Services Inc., 2010 WL 3619851 (N.D.Cal. 2010), the Plaintiffs sued to prevent the Defendant from collecting further based on a purportedly defective NOI letter. Plaintiff filed a class action against the defendant, alleging claims for (1) violation of the UCL, which, in turn, is predicated on a violation of Rees-Levering Automobile Sales Finance Act, Cal.Civ.Code §… Read More
We previously reported on the AT&T v. Concepcion argument scheduled for earlier this week. http://www.calautofinance.com/?p=1404 A transcript of the proceedings can be found here. Read More
In AT&T v. Concepcion, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 requires enforcement of arbitration clauses, even if such clauses contain class-action bans. Oral argument is scheduled for November 9. The parties’ briefs can be found here: petitioner's brief and respondent's brief; although many amicus briefs have been filed on both sides, we attach only the… Read More
In Fisher v. DCH Temecula Imports, LLC (2010) 2010 DAR 12715 , the California Court of Appeal refused to enforce an arbitration clause with a class action waiver in it, distinguishing Arguelles-Romero v. Superior Court (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 825 as merely dealing with claims under the Rees-Levering Automobile Sales Finance Act, not the CLRA, -- the latter of which gives… Read More
In Green Tree Servicing, LLC v. Brough, --- N.E.2d ----, 2010 WL 2894888 (Ind.App. 2010), the Indiana Court of Appeal required arbitration of a FCRA claim because of the arbitration clause in the consumer contract and notwithstanding the consumer’s discharge of the debt in bankruptcy. The Court of Appeal held: We begin by determining whether the parties agreed in… Read More
The new rules can be found here: http://www.jamsadr.com/rules/class_action.asp Read More
In Wold v. Dell Financial Services, L.P., 2009 WL 397235 (D.Minn. 2009), Judge Davis ordered a FCRA claim to arbitration due to an arbitration clause contained in Dell’s computer purchase agreement. Wold argues that the arbitration clause at issue in this case is unconscionable because, if enforced, it would require him to take his federally-protected claims to arbitration rather… Read More
In Piccini v. Wells Fargo Auto Finance, Inc. 2009 WL 307276 (D.Ariz. 2009), Judge Campbell of the District Court of Arizona enforced Wells Fargo’s arbitration clause to cover credit reporting claims under FCRA. Judge Campbell explained Plaintiff does not dispute the validity of his agreement with Wells Fargo, nor does he contend that the arbitration clause is unenforceable. Dkt. #… Read More
In Meyer v. Sprint Spectrum, L.P. (2009) --- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, 2009 WL 197560, the California Supreme Court held that a CLRA plaintiff must have actually been damaged in order to maintain a CLRA claim. The case arose from the plaintiffs' lawsuit against their cellular telephone company, alleging that its arbitration agreement was unconscionable, even though plaintiffs did not allege that… Read More
Numerous California state and federal decisions discuss arbitration clauses. But recently only a few federal court decisions had addressed the specific situation of whether FDCPA claims fall within or outside an arbitration agreement. (E.g. Gerber v. Citigroup, Inc. 2008 WL 596112 (E.D.Cal.2008) (FDCPA claim not arbitratable because valid arbitration agreement between parties not found); Tickanen v. Harris & Harris, Ltd., 461 F.3d… Read More
