SCOTUS again has eschewed an opportunity to clear up the split over the Federal Arbitration Act’s (“FAA”) section 1 exemption for workers engaged in commerce, this time by refusing to reconsider its prior Certiorari denial. As reported in SAA 2021-24 (Jun. 24), the Supreme Court on June 21 denied Amazon’s January 29 Petition for Certiorari in Waithaka v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 19-1848 (1st Cir. Jul….
The SEC has approved an omnibus rule filing strengthening investor protection from at-risk firms and brokers. Addressing unpaid Awards is a major focus. Readers may recall that we reported in SAA 2019-18 (May 8) that FINRA had issued a Regulatory Notice seeking comments on rule changes aimed at better protecting investors from firms with significant…
FINRA Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) posted case statistics through June, with the overall case filing trends essentially unchanged from prior months. In brief, the headlines are: 1) overall arbitration filings through June – 1,533 cases – are down 18%, about the same as in May; 2) customer claims are now unchanged from 2020; 3) industry disputes are almost halved, down 40%; and 4)…
The Stanford Ponzi scheme was discovered in early 2009. Arbitration cases arising out of it are still with us, however. We covered in the “Articles of Interest” section in SAA 2021-26 (Jul. 15) a July 12 Financial Advisor IQ story, “FINRA Arb Panel Orders Pershing to Pay $650K Over Ponzi Scheme,” reporting that: “A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority…
The issue of shareholder arbitration is in the news again, this time in the form of a long-awaited court decision on Johnson & Johnson’s rejection of a shareholder proposal. Recall that we reported in SAA 2019-07 (Feb. 13) that then-SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in February 2019 issued a formal Public Statement backing a staff decision to issue a “no-action letter” on…
As more and more financial services firms announce their plans for returning staff to the workplace (see our coverage in SAA 2021-24 (Jun. 24)), we thought we would check in with the major ADR institutions to inquire about their “back-to-the-office” intentions. Hard to believe, but it’s been over two months since leaders from the American Arbitration…
By George H. Friedman* Chairman of the Board, Arbitration Resolution Services Years ago I penned a blog post on Independence Day and arbitration, and updated it a few years ago. It still rings true. So, without further ado, here’s my July 4th blog post, again updated. Our Founders and Arbitration As we approach Independence Day,…
This analysis of three large COVID-era Awards in favor of customers is provided by Harry Jacobowitz, Esq. He can be reached at harryjacobowitz@optimum.net. The words that follow are his. The unavailability of in-person hearings in FINRA arbitrations since March 16, 2020, has raised the issue of whether telephonic and virtual hearings are sufficient methods for customers to…
This is less a letter from the editor and more your editor’s musings, but I wonder whether we are seeing the start of a tectonic shift on mandatory predispute arbitration agreements (“PDAA”) in the financial services field? For example: As reported in SAAs 2021-13 (Apr. 5), -10 (Mar. 18), & -08 (Mar. 4), new SEC…
AAA Award Data is updated quarterly by the American Arbitration Association. This analysis of the latest update is provided by Rick Ryder, President of Securities Arbitration Commentator, Inc., and by SAC’s ARBchek.com – securities arbitration’s first arbitrator evaluation service. The latest quarterly report from American Arbitration Association adds more than 4,000 new consumer and employment cases to the Association’s…