What restrictions are there, if any, on companies’ use of arbitration clauses that prohibit class action arbitrations? On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case that may address that question. American Express Company v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133 (transcript) is a sequel to the Supreme Court’s
Concepcion
How Plaintiff-Friendly Does An Arbitration Clause Need to Be to Trigger AT&T v. Concepcion? Southern District of New York Opinion Weighs In
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Arbitration/Appraisal
One of the interesting open questions after AT&T v. Concepcion was decided by the Supreme Court is to what extent an arbitration clause must be plaintiff-friendly in order for a ban on class actions to be fully enforceable. A recent opinion by Judge Kimba M. Wood of the Southern District of New York addressed this…
Article on Insurance Impact of 2011 Supreme Court Decisions on Class Actions
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Articles
An article I wrote entitled “The Supreme Court’s 2011 Class Action Decisions: Their Impact on Insurance Class Actions” was recently published as part of New Appleman on Insurance: Critical Issues in Insurance Law. There is a synopsis of the article and link to it on LexisNexis’s Insurance Law Community blog. I welcome comments, questions…
ABA Premier Speaker Series Webinar on Class Actions
By Wystan Ackerman on
Earlier this week I attended the ABA’s national webinar entitled “The Future of Class Actions,” part of its Premier Speaker Series. The panelists were Paul Bland of Public Justice, Mark Perry of Gibson Dunn and Judge Lee Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas. Here is what I found most interesting:
- Paul Bland, the plaintiffs-side
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Arkansas Supreme Court Allows Insurance Class Action to Proceed Despite Arbitration Provision
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Arbitration/Appraisal, Life Insurance
As I’ve noted in prior posts regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility, LLC v. Concepcion (see, for example, my August 22, 2011 post), the insurance industry is in a somewhat unique position with respect to the use of arbitration clauses as a mechanism of avoiding class action exposure. One reason for…