Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

Last week, I referenced an article by Brendan Gooley discussing the decision by a federal court in Ohio that denied a motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the case brought by a plaintiff based on allegations that the defendant was refusing to arbitrate under the American Arbitration Association’s consumer rules. The court determined that theContinue reading “Courts Tell Parties (Albeit In Different Ways) That Arbitration Must Proceed Even Where The Parties Disagree As To The Applicability Of Consumer Or Commercial Rules”

In this article, available through Lexology, Jon Paul Hoelscher and Amandeep Kahlon of Bradley Arant provide an analysis of the Texas Court of Appeals’ decision in Taylor Morrison of Texas, Inc. v. Kohlmeyer, in which the court denied a contractor’s attempt to require arbitration of a mold claim brought by the third generation purchaser ofContinue reading ““Contractor Loses Effort to Bind Remote Home Purchaser to Arbitration Clause””

JD Supra has published this article by Brendan Gooley of Carlton Fields discussing the decision by an Ohio District Court in Linda L. Allen, et al. v. Horter Investment Management, LLC , arising out of a scenario where the contract provided for administration by the American Arbitration Association, yet the AAA declined administration based upon theContinue reading ““Federal Court Refuses To Compel Arbitration or Appoint Arbitrators Where No Party Had Refused To Arbitrate and Both Parties Were Working on Selecting Arbitrators””

“Where a plaintiff from one state has initiated arbitration against a defendant from another state, seeking millions, but has then received an arbitral award of zero, does a federal court have diversity jurisdiction to entertain the plaintiff’s motion under 9 U.S.C. § 10(a) to vacate the arbitral award?” So begins this article by Benjamin GlassmanContinue reading “Assessing the Amount in Controversy When Seeking to Vacate an Arbitral Award”

Edward Spiro and Christopher Harwood of Morvillo Abramowitz have authored this article, published in Lexology, discussing the Southern District (Furman, J.)’s recent decision in Accent Delight International Ltd. v. Sotheby’s, 2020 WL 7230728 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 8, 2020).

In Johnson v. Drake, a divided Sixth Circuit upheld an attorney’s arbitration award against a former client arising out of representation in hip implant products liability litigation. The parties’ engagement letter provided for arbitration of fee disputes, and, following the client’s replacement of the attorney with other counsel, the attorney successfully pursued arbitration to recoverContinue reading “Federal Appeals Court Tackles Competing Arbitration Provisions”