When Isaac Payne took a job at the Savannah College of Art and Design (“SCAD”), he signed an acknowledgement agreeing to comply with the school’s staff handbook, including its alternative dispute resolution policy. The arbitration policy provided, among other things, that the non-prevailing party in any arbitration would be required to pay the arbitrator’s fees,…
Tag: Waiver
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Constitutionality of Giving Preclusive Effect to Engle Jury Findings on Intentional Torts
Recently, in Searcy v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 2018 WL 4214594 (11th Cir. Sept. 5, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit held that giving preclusive effect to a Florida jury’s findings that tobacco companies had concealed the health impacts of smoking did not violate the Due Process Clause when the defendants had notice and an opportunity to…
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,…
Be Careful What You Wish For—Eleventh Circuit Rejects Argument That Appellant’s Own Requested Jury Charge Requires Reversal
In Smith v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 2018 WL 549141 (11th Cir. Jan. 25, 2018), an Engle progeny tobacco case, the Eleventh Circuit rejected the defendant’s argument that the jury’s compensatory damages award should be reduced based on comparative fault. The relevant legal question was settled last month, when the Florida Supreme Court clarified in…
Employee Waived Jury Trial on Formation of Arbitration Agreement
The Eleventh Circuit labored to disentangle a procedural morass in Burch v. P.J. Cheese, Inc., 2017 WL 2885095 (11th Cir. July 7, 2017), ultimately holding that the plaintiff, a former employee alleging violations of a raft of federal employment laws, failed to perfect his right to a jury trial on the existence of an…
Waiver of the Right to Arbitrate Federal Claim Does Not Extend to Later-Asserted State-Law Claims
On April 21, the Eleventh Circuit decided Collado v. J. & G. Transport, Inc., 820 F.3d 1256 (11th Cir. 2016), holding that a defendant’s waiver through litigation of the right to arbitrate claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) did not extend to state-law claims asserted by a later amendment to the complaint. Enrique Collado,…