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Articles by Henry Allen Blair
The Oklahoma Supreme Court Gets Spooked, Refuses to Enforce a Consumer Arbitration Agreement
Just in time for the Halloween season, the Oklahoma Supreme Court gives us a scary tale about buying a new car. In Sutton v. David Stanley Chevrolet, Inc., 2020 OK 87, ¶ 1 the Court finds that an arbitration clause in a consumer contract was induced by fraud because the structure of the transaction was misleading. Spooooooky! No, seriously. It is a little scary, at least for any businesses that use form contracts.
Arbitration 101: Arbitrator Disclosures (and Repeat Players)
Illustration depicting cutout printed letters arranged to form the word confession. I have to confess something: I just returned from sunny California where I attended an excellent arbitrator training course put on by the American Arbitration Association and run by Dana Welch and Michael Powell! If you have an opportunity to take a course from either of them, I highly recommend it.
More on Class Arbitrability, Even Though It's So Last Decade
Happy new year 2020 new year's eve poster composition Welcome to 2020! I hope that you all had a safe and rejuvenating holiday season. A new decade brings us plenty of new opportunities for thrilling arbitration news and developments! But, up first, more on class arbitrability. I know. I know. So last decade. But trust me, this is a case you want to keep an eye on, Jock v. Sterling Jewelers Inc., 942 F.3d 617 (2d Cir. 2019).
Arbitration 101: Uber and (a Failed) Equitable Estoppel Argument
Seems like I’m picking on the gig economy these days. I really don’t mean to be. But a former research assistant of mine brought an important, hot-off-the-presses decision to my attention, O’Hanlon v. Uber Techs., Inc., No. 2:19-cv-00675, 2019 BL 434840 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 12, 2019). The case presents a couple of important Arbitration 101 reminders, including one about equitable estoppel in the context of arbitration.
DoorDash TROs Signal a New Frontier in Mass Individual Arbitrations
food delivery design, vector illustration eps10 graphic Happy December! I hope that everyone has had a restful and well-earned holiday weekend break. There’s a lot of new and exciting stuff happening in the world of arbitration, and I have some catching up to do. I want to start, though, in an unorthodox place. We rarely write about early litigation actions on this blog, but there’s something very interesting happening in California.
Non-Parties Must be Physically in the Same Room as Arbitrators | Lexology
I don’t mean to be imprecise, but I think that the Eleventh Circuit may have recently issued the most luddite opinion I’ve seen in a good long while. See Managed Care Advisory Group, LLC v. CIGNA Healthcare, Inc., 2019 WL 4464301 (11th Cir. Sept. 18, 2019). According to the court, Section 7 of the FAA, which allows arbitrators to subpoena non-parties and their documents, must be interpreted narrowly. And when I say narrowly, the Eleventh Circuit isn’t joking around.
ArbitrationNation Bookworm: Inaugural Post | Lexology
I’m adding something new to our Blog experience, the ArbitrationNation Bookworm. Basically, once or twice a month, I’ll provide a brief overview of an article or book that readers of the Blog might find interesting. I’m also going to add a sidebar that includes other stuff that we’re reading related to arbitration. For the inaugural post, I’m recommending an article from early 2019, , by Andrea Cann Chandrasekher and David Horton.
A Bit More on Who Decides Class Arbitrability, From the Alabama Supreme Court | Lexology
Happy August! What’s a better way to start the month than thinking about class arbitrability! Again. Ugh. Trust me, I would much rather consider so many other exciting arbitration issues, but this one seems to be occupying a lot of court attention, so I’d be remiss not to report on it. Since my last update, I ran across a recent state court’s perspective on the question of who decides class arbitrability. In Alabama Psychiatric Servs. P.C. v. Lazenby, 2019 WL 2560096 (Ala.
The Fifth Circuit Weighs in About Who Decides Class Arbitrability | Lexology
The Fifth Circuit just deepened (and confused) a Circuit split over the question of who decides whether an arbitration agreement permits class proceedings. See 20/20 Communications, Incorporated v. Crawford, 2019 WL 3281412 (5th Cir. July 22, 2019). Liz has written about the split here, here, and here. (You might also recall that SCOTUS flagged this issue, though it punted on it, in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S.
First Things First: Who Decides Issues of Subject Matter Arbitrability? | Lexology
Happy summer! It’s been far too long since my last update, but rest assured I have been thinking a lot about arbitration. In fact, I’m currently teaching a summer course at Queen Mary University of London’s International School of Arbitration, which is a ton of fun. My teaching, in fact, partly inspired this post. Teaching arbitration in an international context reminds me of the fact that the United State’s permissive “everything can be arbitrated” approach isn’t universal or inevitable.
Missouri Reminds Us Just How Small the Bullseye Is for Challenging a Delegation Clause | Lexology
The interplay of the separability doctrine and delegation clauses can create a bullseye that only Hawkeye, the OG Avenger with a bow, might have a prayer of hitting. The Missouri Supreme Court provided a nice reminder about this problem in a recent case, State Ex Rel. Newberry v. Jackson, 2019 WL 2181859 (May 21, 2019). The underlying facts of the case are simple enough: employees filed timely charges of sex, age, and disability discrimination with the Missouri Human Rights Commission.
What Happens if an Award is not Sufficiently “Reasoned”? | Lexology
One of arbitration’s supposed virtues is that it’s fast and simple – streamlined, as many courts are fond of saying. As a consequence, arbitral awards generally do not need to be supported by any reasoning or rationale. Unless the parties have requested a specific form of award, an arbitrator may issue an award that does nothing more than announce a result – declare the winner and the loser. See Cat Chater LLC v. Schurtenberger,646 F.3d 836, 844 (11thCir. 2011).
So Just How “Final” is a “Final Decision” that Allows an Appeal with Respect to an Arbitration? | Lexology
In this week’s installment of Arbitration Nation, we’re going to look at when a “decision with respect to an arbitration” may be appealed. 9 U.S.C. § 16 provides part, but only part, of the answer. The rule essentially establishes the right of a party losing a motion to compel arbitration in a federal court to appeal that decision immediately.
Wisconsin Ignores a Delegation Clause | Lexology
Liz has written before about the ways that state courts sometimes try to resist SCOTUS’s love affair with arbitration. Resistance can come in many and varying forms, some more subtle than others. One persistent source of confusion in arbitration law, and thus a locus for resistance, centers on delegation clauses.
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