American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court held in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (pdf) that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a California rule invalidating arbitration agreements that provide for arbitration of an employee’s own claims under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), but waive the employee’s ability to assert PAGA claims affecting others.

The decision is enormously important to companies seeking to enforce workplace arbitration agreements in California. The decision also provides businesses with powerful arguments that California laws restricting arbitration in the consumer setting are preempted as well. (Disclosure: we filed an amicus brief (pdf) in support of the petition…

Continue Reading Supreme Court strikes down California rule barring individualized arbitration of California PAGA claims

The California Supreme Court has a long history of inventing new rules—either from common law or as “glosses” on statutes—to invalidate arbitration agreements entered into by consumers and employees. For example, in 2005, that court announced a new unconscionability rule—the“Discover Bank” doctrine, which was named after one of the parties to the case—that effectively blocked enforcement of every consumer arbitration agreement that did not permit class procedures. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempted the Discover Bank rule.

Will the California Supreme Court faithfully apply…
Continue Reading Will California Strike Again? The Latest Word From the California Supreme Court On Enforcing Arbitration Agreements

The Supreme Court’s decision today in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant (pdf), No. 12-133, eliminated the last significant obstacle to adoption of fair, efficient arbitration systems that increase access to justice for consumers while reducing transaction costs for everyone, particularly the huge legal fees of both plaintiffs’ lawyers and defense lawyers.

In AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011), the Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) prohibits courts from refusing to enforce arbitration agreements on the ground that they do not provide for class actions. Today’s ruling in American Express makes clear that Concepcion’s determination applies to claims under federal law as well. Mayer Brown represented AT&T Mobility in Concepcion and filed an amicus brief (pdf) for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and Business Roundtable in American Express.

American Express has significant implications both for courts’ consideration of attempts to invalidate arbitration agreements and for the policy debate over the enforceability of those agreements. We discuss both, after explaining the grounds for the Supreme Court’s ruling.Continue Reading Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Arbitration Agreements