Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » arbitration agreement

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

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

Texas Supreme Court sends more ex-Dillards Employees to Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - March 8, 2006

As avid readers of this blog will note, a few weeks back we commented on an opinion from the Texas Supreme Court compelling arbitration in a defamation case against Dillards by a former employee. We speculated (and continue to speculate) that the Court may have indicated that an arbitration agreement which allowed for unilateral modification could be considered illusory, based on the following language: The arbitration agreement and the 2000 rule

Fifth Circuit Upholds Punitive Damages Award

By Rob Hargrove - February 9, 2006

In an opinion (link is to .pdf file) filed Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a trial court decision to confirm an arbitral award which contained a punitive damages award for the arbitral plaintiff. The case involved a woman’s breach of fiduciary duty claims against the managers of an investment portfolio she received as part of a divorce settlement. The arbitral panel found that the investment company did in fact breach its duty to the

Supreme Court forces Defamation Claim to Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - January 27, 2006

This morning, the Texas Supreme Court issued a mandamus opinion in an arbitration case holding that a fired worker’s defamation claim against her erstwhile employer was subject to an arbitration agreement, which required arbitration of personal injury claims. According to the Court, since the agreement was susceptible to two reasonable interpretations, one holding that defamation is a personal injury and one holding that it is not, arbitrat

Reverse Pre-Emption of the FAA!

By Rob Hargrove - October 14, 2005

This morning, the Texas Supreme Court made vague reference to the possibility that the Federal Arbitration Act can be reverse pre-empted by the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Since this is the sort of thing we find fascinating, I poked around a bit. As readers of this blog know, certain language (in 10-point boldface type no less) must be present in any arbitration agreement that would require a patient or prospective patient to arbitrate a medical liabi

High Costs of Arbitration

By Rick Freeman - September 29, 2005

Rick Freeman Commentary Following up on my article last week regarding the Olshan case – in which the San Antonio Court of Appeals found that the high cost of the required arbitration to be “shocking” and unconscionable and therefore the arbitration provision was unenforceable – I want to examine two appellate cases decided in 2004 that discuss substantive unconscionablity. In the first case, Pine Ridge Homes, Inc. v. Ston