Law Commons^™

How Can Federal Actors Compete On Noncompetes? Examining The Need For And Possibility Of Federal Action On Noncompetition Agreements, Robert Mcavoy

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Employees have been frustrated by the restrictiveness of noncompete agreements and confused about their enforceability for decades. The added complication of choice-of-law provisions in employment contracts with noncompetes creates a sea of unpredictability for both employees and employers.

Each state applies its own policy to noncompete agreements. While every state treats noncompetes differently than typical contract provisions, a broad spectrum exists between the states that are friendly and those that are hostile to the enforcement of noncompetes. Employees and employers often fail to understand whether their noncompete is enforceable under the jurisdiction chosen by the contract, and courts override choice-of-law …

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, …

Ending Judgment Arbitrage: Jurisdictional Competition And The Enforcement Of Foreign Money Judgments In The United States, Gregory Shill

Gregory Shill

Recent multi-billion-dollar damage awards issued by foreign courts against large American companies have focused attention on the once-obscure, patchwork system of enforcing foreign-country judgments in the United States. That system’s structural problems are even more serious than its critics have charged. However, the leading proposals for reform overlook the positive potential embedded in its design.

In the United States, no treaty or federal law controls the domestication of foreign judgments; the process is instead governed by state law. Although they are often conflated in practice, the procedure consists of two formally and conceptually distinct stages: foreign judgments must first be …

Preemption: The United States Arbitration Act, The Manifest Disregard Of The Law Test For Vacating An Arbitration Award, And State Courts, Paul Turner

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reverse Pre-Empting The Federal Arbitration Act: Alleviating The Arbitration Crisis In Nursing Homes, Jana Pavlic

Journal of Law and Health

In Casarotto, the Supreme Court enunciated that Montana's notice requirement conflicted with the "goals and policies of the FAA." The inequities associated with the process of pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes, however, confirm that the FAA's "goals and policies"' conflict with "accepted principles of contract law"' in this context. Long standing principles of contract law that predate the FAA, as well as basic human morality, should supersede the interests of efficiency and convenience purportedly served by the general enforceability of the statute. State case law as well as attempted state legislation already evince an underlying public policy to protect …

Law Casebook Description And Table Of Contents: Constitutional Environmental And Natural Resources Law [Outline], Jim May, Robin Craig

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

6 pages.

"James May, Widener University School of Law" -- Agenda

California’S New Ethics Standards: A Hot Bed Of Controversy, Rebecca Callahan

ExpressO

The article examines California’s new ethics rules and examines the cases which have been decided to date challenging and applying those rules. The stated goals of the New Ethics Rules are “to inform and protect participants in arbitration, and to promote public confidence in the arbitration process.” This is a laudable goal since arbitration is a private process that is dependent on public acceptance. The heart of the controversy concerning the New Ethics Rules revolves around the practical inconvenience and cost burden associated with compliance. The enclosed article concludes that such a burden goes hand-in-hand with the privilege of being …

Sailing Around Erie:The Emergence Of A Federal General Common Law Of Arbitration, Kenneth Dunham

ExpressO

This paper traces the history of American arbitration from the common law to the FAA. It discusses the FAA as a procedural act prior to Southland v. Keating and as a substantive law act following Southland. It discusses the Erie doctrine as applicable to federal courts and state law preemption. The article concludes that Southland by-passed Erie using the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause to create a federal common law of arbitration.

Federal Arbitration Act Preemption, Christopher R. Drahozal

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Federal Preemption And Vacatur: The Bookend Issues Under The Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, Stephen L. Hayford

Journal of Dispute Resolution

As one of the two Academic Advisors to the Drafting Committee appointed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ("NCCUSL") to revise the Uniform Arbitration Act, I was assigned primary responsibility for the two most important issues pertinent to the Drafting Committee's framing of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act ("RUAA"). The first-the issue of federal preemption-set the baseline for the scope and character of the RUAA by defining for the Drafting Committee the areas of the substantive law of arbitration in which the states are free to regulate, the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") notwithstanding. The second-the issue …

Faa Pre-Emption: When Should Conflicting State Law Be Pre-Empted By The Faa - Weston Securities Corp. V. Aykanian, Suzanne H. Johnson

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Since the creation of the F.A.A., courts, including the United States Supreme Court, have considered whether the F.A.A. pre-empts conflicting state law. Although courts generally find that the F.A.A. pre-empts state substantive and procedural law when it stands as an obstacle to Congress' goal of enforcing arbitration,5 the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, in Weston Securities Corp. v. Aykanian, made its own determination on this issue, since it was a case of first impression for the court. The court faced the question of whether a Massachusetts procedural rule, which did not allow an immediate appeal from an order to arbitrate, was …

The Legacy Of Industrial Pluralism: The Tension Between Individual Employment Rights And The New Deal Collective Bargaining System, Katherine V.W. Stone

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Unions And Urinalysis, Deborah A. Schmedemann

Faculty Scholarship

Many private employers seem to be busy deciding whether and how to test employees for drug use. Presumably most of these decisions are made by management acting alone. However, in unionized workplaces—one out of five private sector employees are represented by unions—federal labor law prescribes a different method. That method features collective bargaining by unions and management to set the rules, the use of a private third-party neutral to resolve disputes which arise under those rules (arbitration), and relatively little involvement by the government (the National Labor Relations Board, legislatures, and the courts). This system that labor law prescribes for …

Federal Preemption Of Arbitration - Southland Corp. V. Keating, Ronald A. Conway

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arbitration agreements have traditionally been viewed with disfavor.2 Many states have refused to enforce arbitration clauses to the same extent as other agreements, either under the common law or by statute.8 This hostility towards arbitration agreements was the result of an attempt to preserve the courts' jurisdiction. Any agreement which deprived courts of jurisdiction was frowned upon.' The United States Supreme Court recently held that the Federal Arbitration Act5 (FAA) preempts state law and must be applied in state courts. This decision is in accord with a trend throughout the nation to make arbitration agreements specifically enforceable.6 The effect of …