President Obama's Executive Order Against Employment Arbitration

President Obama today signed a new Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order refusing to grant government contracts of over a million dollars to employers who contractually require their employees arbitrate certain disputes.  UNLV Law Professor Jean Sternlight's commentary says "This new order mirrors protections Congress already provided to employees of Defense Department contractors in 2011."

Allegation that Companies Breach Promises to Pay Consumers' Arbitration Fees

Arbitration Fees: Do Companies Breach Duty to Pay Them?

Via Art Hinshaw at ADR Prof, and Jean Sternlight of UNLV writes that Public Justice's Paul Bland (here) argues that although many companies promise to pay arbitration fees incurred by their customers and employees, "quite a few fail to pay those fees on the rare occasion when someone actually brings a claim against them in arbitration.  The post further discusses how the AAA has begun to send letters to such companies demanding that they stop using the AAA name in company documents. Bland identifies car dealers as a common culprit,"

Congressional Hearing on Arbitration

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled "The Federal Arbitration Act and Access to Justice: Will Recent Supreme Court Decisions Undermine the Rights of Consumers, Workers, and Small Businesses?"   Video of the hearing is here.   Senator Al Franken begins the hearing with a strongly negative view toward arbitration clauses in consumer and employment contracts of adhesion.  While I disagree with much of it, he is a very intelligent person, which showed in his comedy career and shows in the senate.

The witnesses at this hearing include several very impressive and capable people:

Leslie Overton

Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Enforcement, Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice

Alan Carlson

Owner
Italian Colors Restaurant
Oakland, CA

Myriam Gilles

Professor of Law
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Vildan Teske

Partner
Crowder, Teske, Katz, & Micko, PLLP
Minneapolis, MN

Archis A. Parasharami

Partner & Co-Chair, Consumer Litigation & Class Actions practice
Mayer Brown LLP
Washington, DC

Peter Bowman Rutledge

Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law
University of Georgia School of Law

UNLV Law Prof. Jean Sternlight's written testimony is here.

Parody of Arbitration Decision by Supreme Court Justice Scalia

Thanks to Professor Jean Sternlight for spreading the word about what she describes as a "brilliant but depressing parody Scalia decision finding that an employee is required to arbitrate all claims although the employer did not expressly impose arbitration on the employee."

The "opinion" says "We hold both that the failure to refer to arbitration in haec verba does not bar a finding of an agreement to arbitrate under the Federal Arbitration Act, and that arbitration is so much the preferred method of dispute resolution under the FAA that, for all contracts within its ambit, arbitration should be presumptively the sole method of resolving disputes that arise under that contract. Only when the parties have expressly and unmistakably negated arbitration, and insisted on judicial resolution, should a court refuse to order arbitration." 

Points for guessing which real opinions by J. Scalia this is parodying?

Hyundai Drops Arbitration Clause

Auto Manufacturer Hyundai Drops Arbitration Clause For Warranty Disputes.


The New York Times reports that, soon after its earlier story about the arbitration clause in a supplement to the car owners' handbooks, Hyundai said it would not use this arbitration clause.   The clause required arbitration of some warranty disputes unless car owners notified Hyundai, within 90 days of purchasing the vehicle, of their decision to opt out of the arrangement.

The Times article quotes two of the leading opponents of what they and many others call "mandatory" consumer arbitration, Paul Bland of Public Justice and UNLV Law Prof. Jean Sternlight.  My more favorable views on arbitration clauses in consumer form contracts are here.