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Full-Text Articles in Law

Federal Question Jurisdiction And The Federal Arbitration Act, Richard A. Bales, Jamie L. Ireland Jan 2009

Federal Question Jurisdiction And The Federal Arbitration Act, Richard A. Bales, Jamie L. Ireland

University of Colorado Law Review

The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") gives signatories to an arbitration agreement the right to have that agreement specifically enforced. The FAA does not, however, confer federal subject matter jurisdiction. Absent federal jurisdiction, a party seeking enforcement under the FAA must sue in state court. State courts, however, are far more likely than federal courts to use state contract law doctrines to avoid enforcing arbitration agreements. This has led parties seeking enforcement to look for other ways into federal court. Some federal courts have found jurisdiction over enforcement actions when the underlying dispute involves a federal question, such as when an …


Independent Investigations: An Inequitable Out For Employers In Cat's Paw Cases, Sean Ratliff Jan 2009

Independent Investigations: An Inequitable Out For Employers In Cat's Paw Cases, Sean Ratliff

University of Colorado Law Review

This Comment addresses the extent to which judges should be allowed to grant summary judgment for employers who conduct "independent investigations" in cat's paw employment cases. A cat's paw employment case is one in which an employee attempts to hold an employer liable for an adverse action based upon the conduct of a biased supervisor. The supervisor, who lacks decision-making authority, may have influenced or participated in the decision to take the adverse employment action. Currently, the circuits split over the requisite level of influence that the supervisor must have over the ultimate decisionmaker in order to impute liability. This …


Class Dismissed: Equal Protection, The "Class-Of-One," And Employment Discrimination After Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture, Matthew M. Morrison Jan 2009

Class Dismissed: Equal Protection, The "Class-Of-One," And Employment Discrimination After Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture, Matthew M. Morrison

University of Colorado Law Review

This Note examines whether government employees should be able to assert so-called "class-of-one" claims against public employers under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Traditional equal protection claims allege that the government has impermissibly singled out the plaintiff for disparate treatment on account of his or her race, gender, or some other trait shared with a larger class of individuals. Such claims reflect the traditional understanding of the Equal Protection Clause as a prohibition on discriminatory group classifications. Class-of-one claims, however, merely allege that the plaintiff was intentionally singled out from other similarly situated individuals and subjected to unequal treatment …