concepcion

A Class Action Waiver is Unenforceable Absent a Mandatory Arbitration Provision

Pace v. Hamilton Cove, 475 N.J. Super. 568 (App. Div. 2023). Class action waivers have infested numerous areas of our commercial lives, including cellphone contracts, banking agreements, and other documents...

Verizon's Arbitration Agreement "Unenforceable in Its Entirety" Since it is "Permeated by Provisions Which Are Unconscionable and Violative of New Jersey Public Policy"

Achey v. Cellco Partnership, 475 N.J. Super. 446 (App. Div. 2023). New Jersey and federal law favor arbitration, and courts will often enforce arbitration clauses contained in consumer contracts. But...

No Surprise: The U.S. Supreme Court Says "Ambiguous" Arbitration Agreements Do Not Permit Class Arbitration

Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 407 (2019). In Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeedsInt'l Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010), the Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-3...

Where Purported Forum for Arbitration is Non-Existent, Arbitration Agreement Will Not be Enforced

MacDonald v. Cashcall, Inc., 883 F.3d 220 (3d Cir. 2018). There have been some outlandish circumstances in decisions involving arbitration, especially in the class action context. But today's case, a...

Editorial: Tomorrow is Election Day

Tomorrow is Election Day. This election presents one of the most consequential choices between major party candidates for President of the United States that this nation has ever seen. When...

No Waiver of Arbitration Clause Even After Years of Litigation, Because Arbitration Demand, Pre-AT&T v. Concepcion, Would Have Been Futile

Chassen v. Fidelity Nat'l Financial, Inc., 836 F.3d 291 (3d Cir. 2016). [Disclosure: I was an expert witness for plaintiffs in this case, but my Declaration and deposition testimony was...

Special Sunday Alert: Justice Scalia Dies

Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States died yesterday. Born in Trenton, New Jersey on March 11, 1936, he was 79 at his death. A graduate...

Some Common Sense on Class Actions from the U.S. Supreme Court

Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S. Ct. 846 (2016). The Supreme Court of the United States has made some dreadful decisions in the class action area, including notorious rulings restricting...

Another Attempt to Compel Arbitration Based on Inadequate and Unclear Documents Fails

Barr v. Bishop Rosen & Co., Inc., 442 N.J. Super. 599 (App. Div. 2015). Both before and after Atalese v. U.S. Legal Servs. Grp., L.P., 219 N.J. 430 (2014), cert....

With Ironies Abounding, the United States Supreme Court Rules on Removal Under CAFA

Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co., LLC v. Owens, ___ U.S. ___ (2014). This case reached a fairly simple conclusion: a notice of removal that removes to federal court a putative...

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