E-Signature Results in Enforceable Agreement to Arbitrate

The 3rd Circuit affirmed a district court ruling granting Kaplan University's motion to compel the student to arbitrate. The 3rd Circuit concluded that the e-signature was a valid method of assent and the student was bound regardless of whether or not she read the enrollment packet.

Buckley LLP discusses the case further.

SCT Holds Independent Contractors "Workers" Under Federal Arbitration Act

The Supreme Court unanimously today held that independent contractors are "workers" within the meaning of the Federal Arbitration Act and thus typically not covered by that Act when agreeing to arbitrate, but rather covered by state law.

Oliveira was a truck driver for Prime under a contract calling him an independent contractor and containing an arbitration clause. Oliveira filed a class action alleging underpayment of wages. Prime moved to compel arbitration under the FAA. But Oliveira persuaded the Supreme Court that as an independent contractor he was covered by the FAA Section 1 exclusion of "contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce."

Employment arbitration expert Professor Rick Bales explains further.

New Justice Kavanaugh Gets to Write Unanimous Opinion Reaching Predictable Result

New Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's opinion for a unanimous Court will interest arbitration nerds. It holds that if an arbitration agreement (or the rules it incorporates) sends to arbitrators (rather than judges) the issue of which disputes the parties agreed to arbitrate, then a court cannot refuse to enforce that agreement by finding "wholly groundless" the argument that the particular dispute is covered by the arbitration agreement.

The Court's opinion in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., is summarized by Law360, the National Law Review, and Squire Patton Boggs