With Halloween behind us, I thought it might be an interesting break from our usual serious scholarly fare for your author to share some humorous horror stories drawn from decades in the alternative dispute resolution field. Some names have been changed or eliminated – not mine – to protect the guilty. Babe in the Woods I entered the alternative…
The Supreme Court has eschewed for now the opportunity to review whether California’s Private Attorneys General Act is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. But another Certiorari Petition involving the issue remains pending. We have reported many times on Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348, 327 P.3d 129 (Calif. 2014), cert. den., 135…
The North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) has released for public comment draft model rules to address the lingering problem of unpaid fines and arbitration awards. Just as we were putting SAA 2021-37 (Oct. 7) to bed, NASAA issued an October 5 Press Release, NASAA Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Model Rules to Combat Unpaid Arbitration Awards and…
PIABA’s third report in over five years says the problem of unpaid FINRA awards is getting worse, not better. The Report, FINRA Arbitration’s Persistent Unpaid Award Problem, was announced in a September 29 Press Release, PIABA – 30% of 2020 FINRA Arbitration Awards Went Unpaid, and via a 24-minute Zoom event. The headlines? “The percentage of unpaid customer awards in FINRA arbitration…
A split Ninth Circuit has finally ruled on the validity of AB-51, which would restrict predispute arbitration clauses (“PDAA”) in employment relationships. The mandatory PDAA preclusions in the new law withstand Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preemption scrutiny, but the criminal and civil penalties for mandatory PDAA use do not. We sometimes wonder whether courts read…
FINRA Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) on September 17 announced an updated COVID-19 vaccination policy. Effective October 4, all in-person participants must be fully vaccinated to attend hearings. There will be a “proof of negative PCR test” exception through November 19, except in Florida – where the exemption will continue indefinitely. Here is the policy in its entirety (footnotes are…
It’s been a while since FINRA temporarily withdrew its expungement rule change proposal. We thought it was time to check in. Spoiler alert: not much going on as far as we can see, but looks may be deceiving. We reported in SAA 2021-22 (Jun. 3) that, on the last day for SEC review of FINRA’s latest proposal…
Just a month out from oral argument, Servotronics has notified the Court that it is dismissing its Certiorari Petition. That leaves Badgerow v. Walters, No. 20-1143, which has been set for oral argument on November 2, as the only arbitration-centric case on the Court’s hearing docket. One of the late Gilda Radner’s many characters was Emily Litella, who would give misguided…
Consumer advocate and mandatory arbitration critic Barbara Roper has joined the SEC’s senior staff. What this may mean for FINRA Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) remains to be seen. SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced on August 25 that veteran consumer advocate Barbara Roper would be joining the Commission’s senior staff. A Press Release states: “The Commission today announced the appointment of Barbara Roper as…
In what we are certain is a reaction to a flurry of multiple individual arbitrations that relate to the same event, the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) has created Supplementary Rules for Multiple Case Filings (“Supplementary Rules”) effective August 1. We have reported several times on cases holding that companies such as Amazon and Postmates have been compelled to…