Thursday, 27 May 2010

U.S. Supreme Court to Review California Arbitration

So, I asked in this post whether the California Supreme Court's jurisprudence on class action waivers in arbitration would survive the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Stoltt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds. There, the SCOTUS held that the Federal Arbitration Act does not authorized arbitrators to require class action arbitration when an arbitration agreement is silent.
The California Supreme Court, on the other hand, say that arbitration agreements cannot preclude class-wide arbitration.

Looks like we're going to find out. The U.S. Supremes just granted review of a 9th Circuit decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion. There, the Ninth Circuit held that a class action waiver was "unconscionable" under California law and that the FAA does not preempt California's unconscionability jurisprudence. Ross Runkel's arbitration blog posts the details here. This case will be argued next term, which begins in October 2010.

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