Monthly Archives: December 2020

“The question presented to Chief Judge Colleen McMahon was, essentially, whether the pre-filing investigations by an attorney for a patent owner worked to compel arbitration?” This was the issue facing the court, as explained by Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog, Inc., in this article discussing the Southern District’s decision in Perry Street Software, Inc. v. JediContinue reading ““Pre-Suit Investigation by Patentee’s Attorney Does Not Compel Arbitration Despite Website TOS””

Quincy Bird of Carlton Fields has authored this article, available through JD Supra, discussing the Arkansas District Court’s decision in Patterson v. American Income Life Ins. Co. Attorney Bird asks at the outset “Has the judicial preference for presuming the survivability of arbitration clauses governing workplace disputes reached canonical status?” He suggests that perhaps itContinue reading ““Arbitration Provision Survives Agent Termination””

Kevin Brodehl of Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP discusses the California Appellate Court’s decision in Yao v. Pro-Management Consulting, finding that a California statute providing that a  “person that becomes a member of a limited liability company is deemed to assent to the operating agreement,” does not serve to constitute an agreement to the operating agreement’s arbitrationContinue reading ““Does an Arbitration Clause Apply to Your LLC Dispute?””

David Reif offers this cautionary tale in his blog post discussing the Third Circuit’s decision in Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Group v. New England Reinsurance Corporation, 2020 U. S. App. LEXIS 40342 (3rd Cir. Dec. 24, 2020): “When you move to confirm an award, if you believe that the case might settle while the application isContinue reading “Arbitration Confidentiality”

Heather Perlberg of Bloomberg has this article, which begins with this tag line: “As it buys up medical practices, private equity is popularizing a favored Wall Street cost-cutting tactic—and stripping patients of rights.”

The New Jersey Chancery Court has issued a decision that extends the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in Flanzman v. Jenny Craig Inc. Flanzman held enforceable an arbitration provision that failed to provide certain specifics regarding the arbitration provision to be followed because the contract language made abundantly clear that “final and binding arbitrationContinue reading “New Jersey Court Holds Arbitration Agreement Is Unenforceable Since It Fails To Disavow The Parties’ Right To Proceed In Court”

The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected the enforceability of an arbitration provision in a law firm’s engagement agreement with “a sophisticated businessman”, holding that “for an arbitration provision in a retainer agreement to be enforceable, an attorney must generally explain to a client the benefits and disadvantages of arbitrating a prospective dispute between theContinue reading “New Jersey Supreme Court Holds That Attorneys Cannot Enforce Arbitration Agreements With Clients Absent Full Disclosure”

In this article, Nikolaus Pitkowitz discusses a decision of the Austrian Supreme Court holding that “an arbitrator’s alleged eye rolling does not by itself constitute a reason to challenge the arbitrator” for bias. As Mr. Pitkowitz explains, “an occasional showing of emotion by, for example, frowning, raising eyebrows, smiling or even eye rolling is partContinue reading “The Great Stone Face”

Alison Frankel at Reuters has this article positing that a federal court’s refusal to grant preliminary approval to a proposed class action settlement may be predicated upon the court’s concern about “companies that unilaterally imposed arbitration on their workers and customers, then tried to shut down those same workers and customers when they attempted toContinue reading ““Judge Breyer rejects $40 million Intuit class settlement amid arbitration onslaught””

Aetna provided insurance coverage to a California surgical center and determined that the center was erroneously characterizing claims that it performed surgeries at out-of-network facilities, when in fact they had been performed at its in-network facilities. This mischaracterization resulted in Aetna paying higher reimbursements to the center. Alleging that the center’s action constituted fraud, AetnaContinue reading “Qui Tam Action Is Not Subject To Arbitration Agreement”