The Floodgates Have Opened: Mass Arbitrations
A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have all but eliminated class arbitrations for consumers, employees, franchisees, and others with common claims against a single company. The latest, decisive blow came in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 587 U.S. __, 203 L. Ed. 2d 636 (2019), with the Court holding that arbitration on a classwide basis could not be compelled based on an arbitration agreement’s ambiguous language. Most arbitration agreements include a waiver of class arbitrations; some are silent. There are virtually none explicitly allowing for class arbitration. Read More