Law360 alerted me to one of the first significant decisions applying the Supreme Court’s opinion in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion (see my blog post about the Concepcion decision) – the Northern District of California decision in In re California Title Insurance Antitrust Litigation, No. 08-01341 JSW, slip op. (N.D. Cal. June 27, 2011).  (I don’t have a cite or link to this slip opinion online, so e-mail me if you would like a copy.) 

This case involves antitrust claims that the defendants, who allegedly dominate the title insurance market in California and nationwide, allegedly manipulated and controlled prices and fixed prices at unfairly high rates.  There were arbitration provisions either in the title insurance policies or the loan documents.  (The opinion is not particularly clear with respect to how arbitration provisions in loan documents would apply but the court concludes they would.)

The court grants a motion to compel arbitration, explaining that Concepcion “held that courts must compel arbitration even in the absence of the opportunity for plaintiffs to bring their claims as a class action.”  (Slip op. at 4.)  The plaintiffs argued that the defendants had waived their right to arbitration by not raising it earlier in the case, but the court concluded that, prior to Concepcion, such an argument would have been futile under the California Supreme Court’s Discover Bank rule.  The court also found that the plaintiffs had failed to show prejudice from the failure to raise the arbitration issue earlier.  The court notes that Concepcion still allows plaintiffs to raise “generally applicable contract defenses” to arbitration agreements that do not focus on the fact that the agreement is an arbitration agreement.  It does not appear that such a defense was raised by the plaintiffs in this case, however.

The takeaway I see here is that title insurance companies (and other insurers) involved in pending class actions should consider seeking to compel an arbitration of the named plaintiffs’ claims, even if the litigation is substantially advanced.  It may not be too late to take advantage of Concepcion.   

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Wystan Ackerman Wystan Ackerman

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you…

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you have something to say.  For those looking for my detailed law firm bio, click here.  If you want a more light-hearted and hopefully more interesting summary, read on:

People often ask about my unusual first name, Wystan.  It’s pronounced WISS-ten.  It’s not Winston.  There is no “n” in the middle.  It comes from my father’s favorite poet, W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden.  I’ve grown to like the fact that because my name is unusual people tend to remember it better, even if they don’t pronounce it right (and there is no need for anyone to use my last name because I’m always the only Wystan).

I grew up in Deep River, Connecticut, a small town on the west side of the Connecticut River in the south central part of the state.  I’ve always had strong interests in history, politics and baseball.  My heroes growing up were Abraham Lincoln and Wade Boggs (at that time the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox).  I think it was my early fascination with Lincoln that drove me to practice law.  I went to high school at The Williams School in New London, Connecticut, where I edited the school newspaper, played baseball, and was primarily responsible for the installation of a flag pole near the school entrance (it seemed like every other school had one but until my class raised the money and bought one at my urging, Williams had no flag pole).  As a high school senior, my interest in history and politics led me to score high enough on a test of those subjects to be chosen as one of Connecticut’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, which further solidified my interest in law and government.  One of my mentors at Williams was of the view that there were far too many lawyers and I should find something more useful to do, but if I really had to be a lawyer there was always room for one more.  I eventually decided to be that “one more.”  I went on to Bowdoin College, where I wrote for the Bowdoin Orient and majored in government, but took a lot of math classes because I found college math interesting and challenging.  I then went to Columbia Law School, where I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the minions who spent their time fastidiously cite-checking and Blue booking hundred-plus-page articles in the Columbia Law Review.  I also interned in the chambers of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor when she was a relatively new judge on the Second Circuit, my only connection to someone who now has one-ninth of the last word on what constitutes the law of our land.  I graduated from Columbia in 2001, then worked at Skadden Arps in Boston before returning to Connecticut and joining Robinson+Cole, one of the largest Connecticut-based law firms.  At the end of 2008, I was elected a partner at Robinson+Cole.

I’ve worked on class actions since the start of my career.  Being in the insurance capital of Hartford, we have a national insurance litigation practice and most of the class actions I’ve defended have been brought against insurance companies. I’ve also handled some involving products liability, managed care, health care, utilities, financial services, higher education and environmental issues.

My insurance class action practice usually takes me outside of Connecticut.  I’ve had the pleasure of working on cases in various federal and state courts and collaborating with great lawyers across the country.  While class actions are an increasingly large part of my practice, I don’t do exclusively class action work.  The rest of my practice involves litigating insurance coverage cases, often at the appellate level.  That also frequently takes me outside of Connecticut.  A highlight of my career thus far was working on Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Class Action Fairness Act case.  I was Counsel of Record for Standard Fire on the cert petition, and had the pleasure of working with Ted Boutrous on the merits briefing and oral argument.

I started this blog because writing is one of my favorite things to do and I enjoy following developments in class action law, writing about them and engaging in discussion with others who have an in interest in this area.  It’s a welcome break from day-to-day practice, keeps me current, broadens my network and results in some new business.

When I’m not at work, you might find me running lines or watching a musical with my teenage daughter who hopes to be a Broadway star (or taking her to voice or dance lessons) or reading a good book.

Read more about Wystan Ackerman
Show more Show less
Related Posts
Title Insurance Class Action Decertified Based On Wal-Mart v. Dukes
January 2, 2013
Title Insurance Class Action on Reissue Premium Discounts: Kentucky Court of Appeals Affirms Class Certification
November 12, 2012
Title Insurance Class Action: Fifth Circuit Illustrates Analysis of Proposed Common Questions Under Wal-Mart v. Dukes
August 23, 2012