Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » 2006

Sovereign Immunity in Texas

By Rob Hargrove - June 30, 2006

Well, this morning’s Texas law explosion is explained in large part by a tremendously important sovereign immunity opinion the Texas Supreme Court handed down. The opinion reverses a 1970 Texas Supreme Court and holds that the “sue and be sued” language that shows up all the time in City charters and statutes and the like may not in fact be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity from suit. The opinion also notes that the Le

No, You May Not Contest an Order Granting Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - June 30, 2006

The Texas Supreme Court ruled this morning to clarify that mandamus review is not necessarily available of an order granting a motion to compel arbitration when the underlying litigation is stayed rather than dismissed. According to the Court, one can only seek review of an order granting arbitration when the evidence shows “clearly and indisputably that the district court did not have the discretion to stay the proceedings pending arbitrat

Door Knobs, Factual Disputes & Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - June 30, 2006

This morning, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion compelling arbitration of certain claims asserted by the Brownsville Independent School District against an air conditioning company relating to the construction of a school. The Court starts its opinion by clarifying the relationship between the FAA and the TAA in Texas courts. So long as state law does not conflict with the FAA to the extent state law would preclude arbitration (such as in

Texas Law Explosion

By Rob Hargrove - June 30, 2006

The Texas Supreme Court issued twenty-five opinions this morning. That’s right. Twenty-five. At least two are arbitration-related, so we’ll handle those first. After that, I’m not sure what we’ll do, since a 25 opinion day is unprecedented in the history of this blog. Technorati Tags: litigation, Texas Supreme Court, law

Texas Supreme Court send Peterbilt Employee to Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - June 19, 2006

The Texas Supreme Court has again, via mandamus, overturned a Court of Appeals affirmation of a trial court denial of a motion to compel arbitration. This most recent opinion stems from the Peterbilt Company’s employment forms. The opinion is unremarkable, but it does specify that an employee’s having signed an “acknowledgment” form (i.e. “I acknowledge that I have received the arbitration policy”) is evidence

Texas Supreme Court Rejects More Arguments Against Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - June 9, 2006

The Texas Supreme Court just issued another decision in the law governing agreements to arbitrate, once again granting mandamus in order to force a case into arbitration. The opinion addresses several of the “hot” issues often raised by parties seeking to avoid arbitration, although perhaps these issues are cooling at this point. The Ripple Family entered into an agreement with a Retailer to purchase a manufactured home. The agreement

International Arbitration and U.S. Federal Courts

By Rob Hargrove - June 8, 2006

Just moments ago, the Fifth Circuit released an opinion examining Section 205 of the Federal Arbitration Act (Chapter 2), which allows for the removal of state court actions which relate to an arbitration agreement or award under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (commonly referred to as the “New York Convention“). The Fifth Circuit Opinion spends a great deal of time in this case explaining

I Missed One

By Rob Hargrove - June 1, 2006

Yesterday, the Workplace Prof Blog pointed out in a post that the Fifth Circuit had issued an opinion, back on May 18, 2006, in which it refused to compel arbitration (link is to .pdf file of the opinion). Obviously, this is a big deal and an unusual event in the Circuit, so apologies for us having missed the opinion. The reason for the omission, for the curious, is the Court’s decision to not publish the opinion. We are frankly not as dili