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Arbitration—From Sacred Cow To Golden Calf: Three Phases In The History Of The Federal Arbitration Act, Katherine V.W. Stone

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

For the past twenty-five years, without much fanfare, arbitration law has remade the civil justice system in the United States. As now interpreted, the Federal Arbitration Act (the ‘FAA’) requires millions of consumers, workers, homeowners, credit card holders, rental car uses, hospital patients, and other ordinary people to forgo use of the courts to vindicate important rights. One development that has garnered particular attention is the tendency of corporations to include class action waivers in arbitration agreements, thereby preventing consumers and employees from aggregating small claims and litigating on a collective basis. While arbitration has become ubiquitous, it has also …

A Muddy Mess: The Supreme Court’S Jurisprudence On Jurisdiction For Arbitration Matters, Kristen M. Blankley

University of Miami Law Review

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Badgerow v. Waters decision at- tempts to create a bright-line rule regarding access to federal courts to hear arbitration matters. On its face, the Badgerow majority opinion reads like a straightforward exercise in textualism. Badgerow interpreted the judicial test for jurisdiction under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) provision regarding vacatur differently than it interpreted the jurisdictional test for a motion to compel under a different part of the statute. However, Badgerow leaves courts, which were already struggling to decipher the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision of Vaden v. Discover Bank, with a significant number of outstanding questions. …

#Metoo’S Landmark, Yet Flawed, Impact On Dispute Resolution: The Ending Forced Arbitration Of Sexual Assault And Sexual Harassment Act Of 2021, Imre S. Szalai

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On March 3, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (the Amendment) into law. This Amendment is the most significant change in the last several decades to the Federal Arbitration Act (the FAA), the main federal law governing arbitration since 1925. This landmark Amendment is also the most important federal legislation to arise thus far from the #MeToo movement. The Amendment invalidates predispute arbitration agreements in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual assault, thereby allowing survivors to proceed with their claims in public court with more robust procedural protections. …

Arbitration And Federal Reform: Recalibrating The Separation Of Powers Between Congress And The Court, Larry J. Pittman

Washington and Lee Law Review

In 1925, Congress, to provide for the enforcement of certain arbitration agreements, enacted the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) as a procedural law to be applicable only in federal courts. However, the United States Supreme Court, seemingly for the purpose of reducing federal courts’ caseloads, co-opted the FAA by disregarding Congress’s intent that the FAA be applicable only in federal courts. And in furtherance of its own Court-created “federal policy in favor of arbitration,” the Court created precedents that limit state regulation of arbitration agreements, including that states cannot exempt disputes from forced or mandatory arbitration agreements or otherwise regulate the …

In Defense Of Moses, Tamar Meshel

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

In 1925, Congress enacted a short statute to make arbitration agreements in maritime transactions and interstate commerce “valid, irrevocable, and enforceable.” Yet the Federal Arbitration Act’s (FAA) simple objective of facilitating the resolution of disputes outside of the courtroom has proven much easier to declare than to implement in practice. In the century since its enactment, the FAA has become a frequently litigated statute and the subject of 59 opinions of the Supreme Court, the majority of which have reversed lower courts’ interpretations of the Act. The Supreme Court’s FAA jurisprudence has not only been abundant but also controversial. …

Boba Fett, Bounty Hunters, And The Supreme Court’S Viking River Decision: A New Hope, Imre S. Szalai

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The United States Supreme Court recently issued a fractured decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 142 S. Ct. 1906 (June 15, 2022), a classic David v. Goliath clash between a worker and employer. Can arbitration agreements be used to eliminate group or representative actions brought against employers, where the plaintiff worker is serving as a bounty hunter for the State? Although the majority clearly holds that a worker’s individual claims must be sent to arbitration pursuant to a predispute arbitration agreement, the splintered opinions leave some uncertainty regarding what happens to the representative claims of the other …

Mass Arbitration 2.0, Andrew B. Nissensohn

Washington and Lee Law Review

Over the past four decades, corporate interests, in concert with the Supreme Court, have surgically dismantled the American civil litigation system. Enacted nearly a century ago, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) was once a procedural law mandating that federal courts enforce arbitration agreements between sophisticated parties with equal bargaining power. Through death by a thousand cuts, corporate interests shielded themselves from nearly all methods of en masse dispute resolution. These interests weaponized the FAA into a “one size fits all” means to compel potential litigants with unequal bargaining power into arbitration. The so-called “Arbitration Revolution” is the subject of much …

Arbitration And The Right To Have Your Day In Court: Meeting Again At The Turning Of The Tide, Lucas Clover Alcolea

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article aims to explore court decisions which have made arbitration less attractive to businesses—both those which have refused to enforce arbitration clauses and paradoxically and those which have enforced arbitration clauses—as well as to provide an overview of businesses' reactions to those decisions and make some predictions about the future direction of travel. To that end, this article will be divided into three main parts. The first will explore the decision of New Prime Inc. as well as the various federal appellate decisions that have applied it. The second will explore the challenges posed by mass arbitration, and the …

Indiana In The Midst Of #Metoo: The Argument For Enforcing Arbitration In Sexual Harassment Claims, Jonathan Cisneros

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This note argues that it is in the best interest of sexual harassment victims and the state of Indiana to not follow suit in passing legislation that prohibits employers from requiring mandatory arbitration in sexual harassment cases. This is based on an analysis of the potential factors underlying Indiana’s current lack of legislative movement, the weight of the arguments for and against mandatory arbitration, and consideration of the preemption issues surrounding state laws banning mandatory arbitration. Part II sets the foundation for this note by laying out the most pertinent parts of the FAA and analyzing how the U.S. Supreme …

You Be The Judge: Analyzing When The Federal Arbitration Act's Judicial Review Standards Apply In State Court, Max Birmingham

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article addresses whether, when the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) governs an arbitration, the FAA’s judicial review standards apply in state court and preempt application of different state law judicial review standards. This argument proceeds as follows: Part I provides an introduction. Part II analyzes the procedural reform intent of the FAA and why the statute seeks to standardize the arbitration process. Part III reviews the judicial review of arbitration awards as promulgated in Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc. Part IV reviews the generations of FAA cases which have been held to be preempted by SCOTUS. Part V …

The Paga Saga, Tamar Meshel

Pepperdine Law Review

Employees routinely enter into employment contracts that contain arbitration ‎agreements and prohibit ‎them from bringing class and/or representative actions. These employees may therefore only bring claims against their ‎employers, ‎whether contractual or statutory, in arbitration on an individual basis. Such arbitration agreements and the class/representative action waivers that they contain are enforced nationwide pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In California, however, a judge-made rule (the Iskanian rule) prohibits the enforcement of representative action waivers found in arbitration agreements with respect to employees’ claims of Labor Code violations under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). A judicial battle is …

The Litigation Landscape Of Fraternity And Sorority Hazing: Defenses, Evidence, And Damages, Gregory S. Parks, Elizabeth Grindell

Washington and Lee Law Review

In recent years, increasing public and media attention has focused on hazing, especially in collegiate fraternities and sororities. Whether it is because of the deaths, major injuries, or litigation, both criminal and civil, collegiate fraternities and sororities have received increased scrutiny. In this Article, we explore a range of tactical considerations that lawyers must consider—from defenses to evidentiary concerns. We also explore how damages are contemplated in the context of hazing litigation.

Mobile-Based Transportation Companies, Mandatory Arbitration, And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Tamar Meshel

Journal of Law and Mobility

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and similar mobile-based transportation network companies (TNCs) have been involved in numerous legal battles in multiple jurisdictions. One contested issue concerns whether TNC drivers are employees or independent contractors. Uber recently lost this battle to some extent in the UK, but won it in California. Another issue concerns the TNCs’ use of mandatory (pre-dispute) arbitration clauses in their standard form service agreements with both drivers and passengers. These arbitration clauses purport to obligate such future plaintiffs to resolve any dispute with the defendant TNC outside of court and, typically, on an individual rather than a class basis. …

In Contracts We Trust (And No One Can Change Their Mind)! There Should Be No Special Treatment For Religious Arbitration, Michael J. Broyde, Alexa J. Windsor

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Seamen, Railroad Employees, And Uber Drivers: Applying The Section 1 Exemption In The Federal Arbitration Ace To Rideshare Drivers, Conor Bradley

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA or the Act) exempts “seamen, railroad employees, [and] any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” from arbitration. In 2019, the Supreme Court held in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that this provision exempted independent contractors as well as employees. This decision expanded the reach of the section 1 exemption and may affect the relationship between ridesharing companies, such as Uber, and their drivers. Previously, ridesharing companies argued that courts must enforce the arbitration clauses in their employment contracts because their workers were independent contractors and, therefore, section 1 …

Arbitration Waiver And Prejudice, Timothy Leake

Michigan Law Review

Arbitration agreements are common in commercial and consumer contracts. But two parties can litigate an arbitrable dispute in court if neither party seeks arbitration. That presents a problem if one party changes its mind and invokes its arbitration rights months or years after the lawsuit was filed and substantial litigation activity has taken place. Federal and state courts agree that a party can waive its arbitration rights by engaging in sufficient litigation activity without seeking arbitration, but they take different approaches to deciding how much litigation is too much. Two basic methods exist. Some courts say waiver requires the party …

A Cure For Every Ill? Remedies For “Pathological” Arbitration Clauses, Harout J. Samra, Ramya Ramachanderan

University of Miami Law Review

Defective arbitration and dispute resolution clauses—widely called “pathological clauses”—may undermine parties’ intent to seek recourse to arbitration rather than the courts. Questions concerning the existence and validity of arbitration clauses are subject to state contract law despite the wide sweep of the Federal Arbitration Act. This Article examines selected common “pathologies” and reviews recent court decisions, including from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and its constituent federal district courts, concerning the enforcement of such clauses.

Realigning Federal Statutes: Contradictions Between The Federal Arbitration Act And The National Labor Relations Act, Denise Han

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Christopher Steele and Brendan Leveron were employees at a private

maintenance company named Pinnacle. Both Steele and Leveron

reported that Pinnacle allegedly forced them to work overtime without

just compensation—an allegation that, if proven valid, would

violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and California state law. They

also claimed that Pinnacle was guilty of unfair business practices,

retaliation and whistleblowing violations, and a failure to account.

Soon after Steele and Leveron filed these allegations, they discovered

that their predicament was not unique across the firm. In 2012,

they decided to represent their fellow employees in a class-action suit

which so …

Express Preclusion Of The Federal Arbitration Act For All Bankruptcy-Related Matters, John R. Hardison

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article sets forth a more solid justification for bankruptcy courts to refuse to order arbitration of any matter related to and affecting a bankruptcy case through express preclusion. First, this Article describes the historical development of the Supreme Court’s holdings on preclusion of the FAA in general and on the courts of appeals’ current formulation of a bankruptcy exception to the FAA. Next, this Article discusses the statutory, historical, and policy-based support for reading the bankruptcy jurisdictional provisions as creating an express exception to the FAA, or alternatively as supporting an implied exception to the FAA. As discussed, …

Arbitration Agreements – What Is The Employee Actually Signing Up For?, Kennedy Poe

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This note will examine the various effects and implications the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the legality of class action waivers within employee-employer contracts will have on employers, employees, and the contracts made between them. Part I will identify class action waivers within an employment contract’s arbitration agreement and will further elaborate upon the legal implications of such waivers being present in the contract. Part II will then discuss the history of the NLRA and assess its present-day role in employee–employer contract formation, in order to provide clarity as to the dispute that has arisen between the NLRA and class action …

Recent Developments, Raelynn J. Hillhouse

Arkansas Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sign Or Else: Employment Arbitration In The Wake Of An Epic Decision, Brendan Williams

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Uncertain Status Of The Manifest Disregard Standard One Decade After Hall Street, Stuart M. Boyarsky

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) enables parties to obtain quick and final resolution to disputes without incurring the costs, delays, and occasional publicity of litigation. Indeed, section 10 of the FAA enumerates four specific grounds on which courts may vacate arbitral awards: corruption, fraud, impartiality, and misconduct or incompetence. Yet over the past 60 years, a debate has raged over the existence of an additional ground: the arbitrator’s manifest disregard of the law.

The Supreme Court first enounced this standard in dicta in its 1953 decision in Wilko v. Swan. Over next four decades, every federal circuit court slowly …

Protecting Against Protectionism: Commisa V. Pemex, Victoria Aynne Barker

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Class Dismissed: Compelling A Look At Jurisprudence Surrounding Class Arbitration And Proposing Solutions To Asymmetric Bargaining Power Between Parties, Matthew R. Hamielec

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Class actions and arbitrations have existed since the United States’ inception. Since the mid-twentieth century, both Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have helped arbitration blossom from litigation’s overshadowed alternative to a prominent means of resolving disputes. Soon, the commercial industry proceeded to incorporate arbitration provisions in their consumer and employment contracts. That way, when a dispute arose between the business and a person, the business would arbitrate with claimants individually. Plaintiffs’ attorneys who favored collective action proceedings like class actions, however, pushed for courts’ allowance of class arbitration—a class proceeding conducted within an arbitration’s confines.

Corporations litigated such class …

Uber Hitches A Ride With Arbitration: How Pro-Arbitration Attitudes And Uber Will Prevail In California And The Ninth Circuit, Neil Eddington

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Part I of this article will introduce Uber and describe how the sharing economy functions. This section will explain Uber’s current conflict with their drivers regarding arbitration agreements and why the stakes are so high. Part II will explore the FAA—its history, original legislative intent and purpose—in order to provide a baseline from which to contrast its current broad application. Part III will highlight Supreme Court jurisprudence on arbitration to illustrate how the FAA is now expansively interpreted contrary to its original limited scope. This Part will culminate in an examination of the Concepcion and American Express majority and dissenting …

Cross-Border Insolvencies: To “Universalize” Or To Arbitrate?, Young Hye (Martina) Chun

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This note makes a cost-benefit analysis of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15 and International Commercial Arbitration in the context of cross-border bankruptcy proceedings. Part I sets the stage by providing two opposing theoretical approaches to cross-border insolvencies: territorialism and universalism. Part II introduces the UNCITRAL’s Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, which is incorporated into the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15. It presents how the Model Law has attempted to compensate for the lack of a global court by incorporating universalism. Part III demonstrates that while Chapter 15 sounds good in theory, it fails to address the very issue it …

Religious Arbitration And Its Struggles With American Law & Judicial Review, Sukhsimranjit Singh

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Class Action Waivers In Employment Agreements: Lewis Creates A Framework For The United States Supreme Court, Meghan Gonyea

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doscher: The Second Circuit Frees Itself From Its Prior Look Through Approach, Fueling A Circuit Split, Peter Nelson

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.