FAA

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By: Gina Gi

Seyfarth Synopsis: The reach of the FAA’s transportation worker exemption remains heavily litigated, particularly as it applies to last-mile delivery drivers. Federal circuits are currently divided on whether such drivers fall within the exemption. The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to resolve the split soon, with its decision expected to have significant ramifications.

The Federal Arbitration…

Continue Reading The Transportation Worker Exemption: Current Legal Landscape and the Supreme Court’s Upcoming Review of Last-Mile Delivery Drivers

By: John P. Phillips

Seyfarth Synopsis: Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, many employers have seen an uptick in plaintiffs seeking to avoid arbitration by arguing that they are transportation workers and thus not subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. But as the subsequent history in the Saxon decision makes clear, employers can—and…

Continue Reading State Law Can Serve as a Backstop to the Federal Arbitration Act

By: Sage Fishelman and Josh Rodine

Seyfarth Synopsis: A divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), which purports to prohibit employers from requiring job applicants and workers from signing arbitration pacts. The panel further concluded that AB 51’s criminal penalties are preempted by the FAA.

Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Rehearing Suggests a FAArewell to California’s Arbitration Prohibition

By: Andrew Scroggins & Nicolas Lussier

Seyfarth Synopsis: Couriers who transport goods from restaurants and grocers who have connected to consumers via the Postmates app are not “engaged in foreign or interstate commerce,” according to a recent decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, the couriers don’t satisfy the “transportation worker” exception to the…

Continue Reading First Circuit Delivers Win To Companies Hungry To Enforce Mutual Arbitration Agreements With Couriers Who Rarely Cross State Lines

By Lennon B. Haas, Kyle Petersen, and Kevin M. Young

Seyfarth Synopsis: Though it may sound esoteric, the question of whether “last mile” drivers fall within the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation worker exemption bears tremendous consequence. If they are exempt, they can’t be compelled to arbitrate under the FAA. If they are not exempt, the answer reverses. In …
Continue Reading Eleventh Circuit Clears the Road to Arbitration for Last-Mile Drivers

Authored by Simon L. Yang

As discussed by our Consumer Class Defense Blog, this week’s Supreme Court decision in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia reversed a California Court of Appeal that had applied the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act’s prohibition of class waivers in arbitration agreements. According to the lower court’s decision, an arbitration agreement’s terms—directing application of the “law…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Airs Re-Run on Class Waivers in DirecTV But Disappoints Again by Declining PAGA Waiver Programming

Authored by Emily Barker

This week, in Sakkab, et al v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., the Ninth Circuit ruled that an employee cannot waive the right to bring a representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) through an arbitration agreement or any other means. In so doing, it found the California Supreme Court’s “Iskanian …
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit’s Pro-PAGA Decision Is Not the Death Knell for Class Waivers in Arbitration Agreements

Co-authored by David D. Kadue and Simon L. Yang

On Tuesday, January 20, 2015, the Court declined to take the case of CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC v. Iskanian, in which an employer asked the Court to reverse a ruling of the California Supreme Court. At issue was whether an employee who has agreed to submit all employment-related claims…
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Referee Slugfest Between Federal and California Courts on Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements