The plaintiff sued the trustee of his retirement plan, his former employer, and others for breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the plan’s purchase of shares of the employer’s parent company for more than fair market value. The plan was a defined contribution plan, with a separate individual account for each participant. The complaint sought relief under section 502(a)(2) of ERISA, including restoration of plan-wide losses, surcharge, accounting, constructive trust, disgorgement of profits, and other equitable relief. The defendants moved to compel arbitration under the FAA on an indi ..read more

In Sacramento Drilling Inc. v National Casualty Co., the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon addressed an amended motion to compel arbitration brought by defendant National Casualty Co. seeking to limit arbitration to only certain claims. The underlying matter involved claims related to alleged losses incurred by plaintiff Sacramento Drilling (a subcontractor) for furnishing labor and materials for defendant White Construction (the general contractor) associated with the construction of two projects. The agreement between Sacramento and White included a mandatory arbitration clause ..read more

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a petition to vacate a $65 million arbitration award based on the petitioner’s argument that the arbitrator’s decision was in “manifest disregard of the law.” The court explained that a “litigant seeking to vacate an arbitration award based on alleged manifest disregard of the law bears a heavy burden, as awards are vacated on grounds of manifest disregard only in those exceedingly rare instances where some egregious impropriety on the part of the arbitrator is apparent.” A court may vacate an award for manifest disregard of ..read more

Ascension Data & Analytics LLC terminated its contract with Pairprep Inc. for data extraction services after an alleged data breach involving Pairprep’s servers and Pairprep’s alleged “failure to extract reliable data.” Ascension subsequently initiated arbitration proceedings against Pairprep pursuant to the parties’ contract in an attempt to recover the remediation costs incurred as a result of Pairprep’s data breach. Pairprep asserted counterclaims against Ascension, and the arbitration panel ultimately rendered a monetary award in Pairprep’s favor. Ascension petitioned the Northern Dist ..read more

The plaintiff was employed by defendant Pilot Catastrophe Services Inc. as an insurance claims adjuster, where she was responsible for inspecting property damage claims and providing damage estimates to insurance companies. The plaintiff brought a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) alleging that she and other claims adjusters were misclassified as salaried employees exempt from overtime requirements, and Pilot violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime wages. Pilot filed a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the arbitration provisions set forth in the plaintiff ..read more

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration after concluding, contrary to the district court’s decision, that a “sign-in wrap agreement” provided conspicuous notice of terms and that an arbitration clause in the terms was therefore enforceable. Warners Bros. Entertainment Inc. developed Game of Thrones: Conquest, a mobile game that users could download on their phones. To play the game, users had to press a button labeled “play.” That button was directly over a notice informing users that, by pressing “play,” they agreed to the game’s terms ..read more

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has rejected an argument that opting out of arbitration clauses precluded arbitration under prior arbitration agreements in a dispute between Uber drivers and Uber. A group of Illinois Uber drivers sued Uber under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois law claiming that Uber misclassified them as independent contractors. Uber moved to compel arbitration, arguing that the drivers had signed multiple platform access agreements that included broad arbitration clauses. The platform access agreements allowed drivers to opt out of the ..read more

In Michigan AFSCME Council 25 v. County of Wayne, the Supreme Court of Michigan declined an application filed by Michigan AFSCME Council 25 and Affiliated Local 101 for leave to appeal a judgment of the circuit court and court of appeals vacating an arbitrator’s decision regarding an employment-related dispute. The court’s order was limited to the denial of the defendant’s application and noted, “we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.” However, a concurring opinion addressed the underlying arbitration and issues created by the court of appeals decis ..read more

National Golf Management LLC sold 13 golf courses to a buyer represented by broker Andrew Waldo. NGM was represented in a previous transaction by Michael Cousins. Although Cousins had no written representation agreement with any of the parties involved in the 13-golf course deal, he and his real estate brokerage company sued Waldo, Waldo’s company, and NGM, among others, for a commission from the sale of the golf courses. As a result of both Waldo and Cousins’ membership in a local realtor association, they were required to arbitrate their professional dispute. Despite South Carolina statutes ..read more

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a district court’s decision to deny a motion to compel arbitration in a case involving a request to refund the cost of airline tickets after a cancellation. Winifredo and Macaria Herrera purchased airline tickets on Cathay Pacific flights through a third-party booking website, ASAP Tickets. ASAP’s terms and conditions included an arbitration clause requiring binding arbitration through the American Arbitration Association. During their trip, Cathay Pacific canceled the Herreras’ return flight and told them to talk to ASAP about a refund. ASA ..read more