Court Decisions about Arbitration

Part II.B: Section 2 Express Preemption – Purposive Analysis by Philip J. Loree Jr. I. Introduction In Part II.A, we considered a textual construction of Section 2’s savings clause and concluded that it supports AT&T Mobility’s position. This Part II.B examines the savings clause from a purposive interpretation and construction standpoint. For the sake of convenience, the term “purposive” or “purposivism” is used here as a convenient way to d

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Last week, a second round of mediation was ordered in Cull and Cull v. Perry Homes. The ten-year-old dispute has already been the subject of an arbitration, a trial and a court-ordered mediation. Briefly, here are the facts of the case: In 1996, the Culls purchased a house from builder Perry Homes. After problems with the foundation and construction caused the appraised value of their house to plummet from more than $233,000 to $41,000 in only a

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The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals has affirmed an arbitration award stemming from an irrevocable family settlement agreement. In In re Cantu, No. 13-08-00708-CV, (Tex. App. — Corpus Christi, November 18, 2010), several disputes arose between the seven children of an elderly widow regarding her care and custody and the disposition of her estate. Following a court-ordered mediation, all seven of the widow’s children entered into an irrevoca

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Part II.A: Section 2 Express Preemption – Textual Analysis by Philip J. Loree Jr. I. Introduction Part I of this series (here) was published the day before the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in AT&T Mobility, LLC v. Concepcion, No. 09-893 (blogged here, here, here and here). Now that the argument has taken place, and we have had a chance to review the transcript (here), and listen to the audio (here), it’s time to begin delvi

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The Dallas Court of Appeals has overturned a district court’s refusal to compel arbitration in two related attorney-client dispute cases. In BDO Seidman, LLP v. J.A. Green Development Corp., 05-09-01520-CV (Tex. App. – Dallas, Nov. 9, 2010) and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, LLP v. J.A. Green Development Corp., 05-10-0008-CV (Tex. App. – Dallas Nov. 9, 2010), real estate development company Green sought tax advice from BDO Seidman and Sidley Aus

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The Northern District of Texas has refused to compel arbitration in a bankruptcy proceeding where the equities did not weigh in favor of ordering a non-signatory to arbitration, the party who sought to compel arbitration substantially engaged in adversarial proceedings and issues of bankruptcy law predominated. In Hallwood Group, Inc. v. Balestri (No. 3:10-CV-1198-K) (N.D. Tex. Oct. 21, 2010), the Hallwood Group appealed a bankruptcy court’

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The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 09-893, a class-wide arbitration case from the 9th Circuit. AT&T concerns the applicability of state law unconscionability defenses to class arbitration exclusion clauses in consumer arbitration agreements. In the case, Vincent and Liza Concepcion sued AT&T in California over a charge of approximately $30 in connection with purchasing a ce

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The U. S. Supreme Court will hear AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 09-893, a class-wide arbitration case from the 9th Circuit, today. In the case, the Court is asked to consider whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts states from conditioning enforcement of an arbitration agreement on the availability of particular procedures when those procedures are not necessary to ensure that the parties to the arbitration agreement are able to

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by Philip J. Loree Jr. Part I: Introduction Virtually every year the United States Supreme Court’s docket features a number of politically-charged, controversial cases, plus some run-of-the-mill ones that do not inspire much in the way of intensive, ideological debate. Generally the Court’s arbitration-related cases fall into this latter category, though last term saw the Court decide 5-3 and 5-4 along ideological lines two politically controvers

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The Dallas Court of Appeals has held the mandatory notice requirements set forth in Section 74.451 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code rendered an arbitration provision unenforceable where the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA), 15 U.S.C. § 1012(b), preempted the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In In re Sthran, No. 05-10-01176-CV (October 29, 2010), Etta Sthran (relator) sued Forest Lane Healthcare Center and THI of Texas at Forest Lane, LLC (F

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