Author Archives: Robert Harris

A New Jersey appellate court found no contractual ambiguity in a provision stating “that ‘EITHER YOU OR WE MAY CHOOSE’ arbitration and if arbitration is elected, any dispute ‘shall’ be subject to binding arbitration.”

In NCHF Ams II Houston, LLC v. Kaplan, a California Appellate Court vacated an arbitration award. This was the second vacatur. Vacatur #1 occurred when the court determined that the arbitrator improperly awarded punitive damages. This time around, the court determined it was error for the arbitrator to reconsider liability issues, since the only problemContinue reading “Arbitrator Improperly Addressed Liability Issues When Initial Award Was Vacated Due To Improper Assessment Of Punitive Damages”

Tony W. Torain, II, in this article published in National Law Review, discusses the ways in which “a sophisticated plaintiffs’ bar has found a way to combat the proliferation of mandatory arbitration agreements,” by bringing a multitude of individual arbitration claims. He argues that “[i]n negotiating merger transactions, prospective buyers should be aware of theContinue reading ““Employee-Specific Arbitration Agreements: Could They Backfire for Buyers?””

City News Services has this article in Patch.com discussing the presence or absence of an agreement to arbitrate claims with a West Hollywood, California dog walking service.

Here’s the federal court’s opinion in its entirety in Castro v. Bank of New York Mellon. This matter is before the Court on Petitioners’ pro se Motion for Reconsideration re OrderDismissing Case as Frivolous. (Doc. No. 12). Petitioners Mario and Magdalena Castro asserted in their initial application to confirm arbitration award that an arbitration awardContinue reading “It’s An Interesting World”

The Florida Court of Appeals’ decision in Doe v. Natt and AirBnB, Inc. involves claims by AirBnB guests whose visit was surreptitiously recorded by the property owner. The AirBnB “clickwrap” agreement provided for arbitration, and the opinion provides a detailed analysis regarding whether the court or the arbitrator should determine the arbitrability of the dispute.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court’s order compelling a boxer to arbitrate his claims against the World Boxing Organization based on the agreement’s provisions permitting the WBO to select the arbitrator. In Trout v. Organizacion Mundial De Boxeo, Inc., the court held that, even though the agreement specified that theContinue reading “Appellate Court Reject Arbitration Provision That Permitted One Party To Appoint The Arbitrator”

Brendan Gooley of Carlton Fields has this article in JDSupra, discussing the Fourth Circuit’s holding in Hill v. Employee Resource Group, LLC, No. 18-2009 (4th Cir. June 9, 2020), in which Mr. Gooley explains the court “declined to compel arbitration in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action with respect to more than 70Continue reading ““Fourth Circuit Declines to Compel Arbitration Due to Missing Arbitration Agreements””

“‘AN ANYTHING-GOES SITUATION’: As Deaths From Covid-19 Surge In Nursing Homes, Some Facilities With Histories Of Health Violations Are Asking Patients To Sign Arbitration Agreements.” Ed Williams has this article in Las Cruces Sun News.

In Crider v. GMRI, Inc., the Ohio Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s determination that an employee’s claims arising from and relating to sexual assault by a co-worker fell outside the scope of an arguably broadly worded arbitration provision. Relying on precedent, the court held that the employee’s claims “relating to and arising fromContinue reading “Court Holds Sexual Assault Claims Are Not Arbitrable As They “Exist Independent Of The Employment Relationship””