Effective, Experienced, Exceptional.

Firm Profile

Public Relief

Subscribe to Consumer Finance

Thank you for your desire to subscribe to Severson & Werson’s Consumer Finance Weblog. In order to subscribe, you must provide a valid name and e-mail address. This too will be retained on our server. When you push the “subscribe button”, we will send an electronic mail to the address that you provided asking you to confirm your subscription to our Weblog. By pushing the “subscribe button”, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old, are the owner/authorized user of that e-mail address, and are entitled to receive e-mails at that address. Our weblog will retain your name and e-mail address on its server, or the server of its web host. However, we won’t share any of this information with anyone except the Firm’s employees and contractors, except under certain extraordinary circumstances described on our Privacy Policy and (About The Consumer Finance Blog/About the Appellate Tracker Weblog) Page. NOTICE AND AGREEMENT REGARDING E-MAILS AND CALLS/TEXT MESSAGES TO LAND-LINE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONES: By providing your contact information and confirming your subscription in response to the initial e-mail that we send you, you agree to receive e-mail messages from Severson & Werson from time-to-time and understand and agree that such messages are or may be sent by means of automated dialing technology. If you have your email forwarded to other electronic media, including text messages and cellular telephone by way of VoIP, internet, social media, or otherwise, you agree to receive my messages in that way. This may result in charges to you. Your agreement and consent also extend to any other agents, affiliates, or entities to whom our communications are forwarded. You agree that you will notify Severson & Werson in writing if you revoke this agreement and that your revocation will not be effective until you notify Severson & Werson in writing. You understand and agree that you will afford Severson & Werson a reasonable time to unsubscribe you from the website, that the ability to do so depends on Severson & Werson’s press of business and access to the weblog, and that you may still receive one or more emails or communications from weblog until we are able to unsubscribe you.

District Court (Cal.) Enforces Arbitration Clause as Not Prohibiting Public Injunctive Relief After Defendant Argues that Right to Individual Injunction in Arbitration Permits Arbitrator to Award Public Injunctive Relief

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Maybaum v. Target Corp., No. 2:22-cv-00687-MCS-JEM, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80466, at *15-16 (C.D. Cal. May 3, 2022), Judge Scarsi enforced an arbitration clause despite arguments over whether the Arbitration Clause prohibited a right to public injunctive relief "in any forum" under McGill.  Plaintiff argues that California law prohibits compelling arbitration of her claims because she seeks public injunctive… Read More

9th Cir. Says Injunctive Relief that Benefits Defined Class is Not “Public Injunctive Relief” under Blair/McGill

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Capriole v. Uber Techs., No. 20-16030, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 22738, at *35-40 (9th Cir. Aug. 2, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that injunctive relief designed to benefit only a defined class of individuals is not "public" injunctive relief under Blair.   Nevertheless, Plaintiffs argue that their request for preliminary relief classifying them as employees is one… Read More

9th Cir. Says Arb. Clause Did Not Violate McGill Rule Because Consumer Can Get Public Injunctive Relief as an Individual in Arbitration

by Scott J. Hyman |

In DiCarlo v. MoneyLion, Inc., No. 20-55058, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 4817 (9th Cir. Feb. 19, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ordered a case to arbitration, finding that the arbitration clause did not violate the McGill rule. California's legal requirement that contracts allow public injunctive relief is known as the McGill rule. See McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 2… Read More

9th Cir. Says Consumer Bound to Website Arbitration Clause

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Stover v. Experian Holdings, Inc., No. 19-55204, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 33176 (9th Cir. Oct. 21, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s arbitration order. Rachel Stover appeals the district court's order compelling arbitration of her claims based on her purchase of the Experian Credit Score subscription service in 2014. Two versions of… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says Arbitration Clause’s Prohibition Against Class Action Did Not Bar Claims For Injunctive Relief In Any Forum Because a Claim for Public Injunctive Relief Is Not A “Class Action”

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Ionescu v. Extra Space Storage, No. 19-cv-02226-YGR, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143992, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 23, 2019), Judge Gonzalez-Rogers ordered a claim to arbitration. The facts were as follows: Plaintiffs Alexandru Ionescu, Lenay Johnson, and Lamar Mosley bring this putative class-action law suit against defendant Extra Space Storage Inc. ("Extra Space") for false advertising in violation of… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says Class Claims Plead Non-Arbitratable Claims for “Public Injunctive Relief”, but Such Claims Should Be Stayed Pending Outcome of Arbitration of Individual Claims.

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Eiess v. Usaa Fed. Sav. Bank, No. 19-cv-00108-EMC, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144026, at *2-4 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 23, 2019), Judge Chen ordered a class action plaintiff's individual claim to arbitration, and stayed the claim for public injunctive relief pending the outcome of Plaintiff's individual claim. The facts were as follows: Ms. Eiess is a customer of USAA and… Read More

9th Cir. Says FAA Doesn’t Pre-empt California S.Ct.’s Decision in McGill

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Blair v. Rent-A-Center, Inc., No. 17-17221, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 19476 (9th Cir. June 28, 2019), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that the F.A.A. does not pre-empt the California Supreme Court’s McGill decision.  The Court of Appeals summarized its decision as follows: The panel affirmed the district court's denial of Rent-A-Center's motion to compel arbitration… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Orders Auto Case to Arbitration; Arbitrator to Determine Effect of McGill on Enforceability of Arbitration Clause

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Garcia v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., 2017 WL 4325777, at *2–3 (E.D.Cal., 2017), Judge McGill ordered an auto finance case to arbitration, allowing the Arbitrator to determine the effect of McGill on the enforceability of the Arbitration clause. The arbitration provision stated in part, “Any claim or dispute is to be arbitrated by a single arbitrator on an individual basis and not… Read More

Court of Appeal (Cal.) in McGill Runs Full Course; Remands to Trial Court to Determine Severability of Public Relief Waiver and Whether McGill Waived Her Right to Challenge the Trial Court’s Order

by Scott J. Hyman |

In McGill v. Citibank, 2017 WL 4382034, at *3 (Cal.App. 4 Dist., 2017) (unpublished), the Court of Appeal put its gloss on the Supreme Court's decision in McGill and what is left for the trial court to decide on remand. The Supreme Court concluded its opinion with the following paragraph: “Our invalidation of the arbitration provision insofar as it purports to waive McGill's… Read More

California Supreme Court addresses Whether Broughton/Cruz Rule Survives Concepcion

by Scott J. Hyman |

In McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 2017 WL 1279700, at *1 (Cal., 2017), the California Supreme Court addresses whether the Broughton/Cruz rule survives Concepcion.  See Kilgore v. KeyBank, Nat. Ass'n, --- F.3d ----, 2012 WL 718344 (9th Cir. 2012) ("the Broughton–Cruz rule does not survive Concepcion because the rule “prohibits outright the arbitration of a particular type of claim”—claims for broad public… Read More