Homeowners are bound by a mandatory-arbitration provision printed conspicuously on the wrapping around packages of shingles when the packages are opened and installed by the homeowners’ roofers, as a matter of Florida contract law. Dye v. Tamko Building Products, Inc., 2018 WL 5729085 (11th Cir. Nov. 2, 2018). Two Florida homeowners whose roofers had purchased,…
Category: Arbitration
SCOTUS Business Cases This Term (Part 2 – Arbitration)
The Court has several arbitration-related cases before it this term. Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela concerns whether the FAA permits a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that finds a contractual basis for class arbitration without class arbitration’s being specifically mentioned. New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira involves the FAA’s exception for “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad…
Court Upholds Injunction Against FINRA Arbitration of Claims Against Member’s Affiliate
The Eleventh Circuit recently upheld a permanent injunction against arbitration of claims by investors against a FINRA member and its overseas affiliates on the basis that the arbitration did not concern the affiliates’ relevant business activities. Pictet Overseas, Inc. v. Helvetia Trust, 2018 WL 4560685 (11th Cir. Sept. 24th, 2018). In Pictet, two trusts had…
Availability of Class Arbitration Is a “Question of Arbitrability” to Be Decided by a Court Absent a “Clear and Unmistakable Intent” to Delegate Arbitrability Questions to an Arbitrator
For the second time in as many months, the Eleventh Circuit addressed the question of who—a court or an arbitrator—decides whether an arbitration agreement allows for class arbitration. The court faced this question just last month in Spirit Airlines, Inc. v. Maizes, 899 F.3d 1230 (11th Cir. 2018), but its more recent decision in JPay, Inc….
Spirited Court Widens Circuit Split Over Who Decides Class Arbitrability
In Spirit Airlines, Inc. v. Maizes, 2018 WL 3866335 (11th Cir. Aug. 15, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit concluded that an arbitration agreement providing that the rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) will cover all disputes constitutes clear and unmistakable evidence that the parties intended for an arbitrator to decide whether class arbitration is available….
A Default in Proceeding with Arbitration Does Not Necessarily Authorize a Default Judgment in Federal Court
In Hernandez v. Acosta Tractors Inc., 2018 WL 3761126 (11th Cir. Aug. 8, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit held that a party’s default in proceeding with arbitration after requesting it did not necessarily warrant entry of default judgment against that party in federal court. Julio Hernandez sued his former employer, Acosta Tractors, and two of its…
London or New York? Beware Inconsistent Dispute Resolution Provisions
Internaves de Mexico s.a. de C.V. v. Andromeda Steamship Corp., 2018 WL 3636427 (11th Cir. Aug. 1, 2018), demonstrates the perils (and costs) of inconsistency in an agreement’s dispute resolution provisions. Internaves and Andromeda were parties to a “charter party” agreement for the transportation of an electric transformer from Brazil to Mexico. The agreement, completed…
Survey of 2017 Eleventh Circuit Decisions Published
The Mercer Law Review recently published its annual survey of noteworthy Eleventh Circuit decisions. The Class Actions article, authored by our own Tom Byrne and Stacey Mohr, analyzes the court’s 2017 decisions on CAFA jurisdiction, the impact of arbitration agreements on class actions, the preclusive effect of prior actions, class action settlements, and class certification disputes….
Bank Did Not Waive Arbitration Rights Against Unnamed Class Members
In the latest appeal emanating from the Checking Account Overdraft Litigation MDL proceeding pending in the Southern District of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit returned to a question that it dodged in a previous appeal: whether Wells Fargo waived its arbitration rights as to unnamed members of a certified class. Gutierrez v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA,…
Third Time No Charm for Bank in Arbitration Bid
In its third trip to the Eleventh Circuit attempting to enforce an arbitration agreement in a would-be class action involving bank debit card overdraft practices, the bank’s motion to compel arbitration was again denied, this time because of what the court concluded was a failure to agree on arbitration. Dasher v. RBC Bank (USA), 2018…