The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a defendant had waived its right to compel arbitration because its substantial invocation of the judicial process had prejudiced the plaintiff. In MC Asset Recovery, LLC v. Castex Energy, Inc., No. 09-10451 (5th Cir. Aug. 2, 2010) MC Asset Recovery, LLC (MCAR) sued Castex Energy, Inc. (Castex) alleging breach of a purchase and sale agreement. The district court denied Castex’

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Today, the U.S. Supreme court granted certiorari to AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, No. 09-893. The Ninth Circuit opinion is available here. The question presented is: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts States from conditioning the enforcement of an arbitration agreement on the availability of particular procedures–here, class-wide arbitration–when those procedures are not necessary to ensure that the parties to the arbitra

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It has been a long road for Mr. and Mrs. Cull. Here are the facts of the case: In 1996, the Culls bought a home from home builder Perry Homes and warranties from Home Owners Multiple Equity, Inc. and Warranty Underwriters Insurance Company. In 2000, the Culls sued the warranty companies over problems with their house foundation and construction. They claimed that their home had defects that caused its appraised value to plummet from more than $23

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a party waived its right to arbitrate by waiting one year after the suit was filed before seeking to compel arbitration. In Petroleum Pipe Americas Co., v. Jindal Saw Ltd., (No. 08-20461) (5th. Cir. July 9, 2009) Defendant Jindal Saw Ltd. (“Jindal”) is an Indian manufacturer of pipelines and plaintiff Petroleum Pipe Americas Corp. (“PPA”) is a Texas corpora

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In an unpublished opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a company did not waive its right to arbitration by participating in administrative proceedings initiated by employee and affirmed the District Court’s confirmation of an arbitration award. In Green v. Service Corporation International, No. 08-20607 (5th Cir. June 2, 2009), Phillip Green was hired by SCI Management, a subsidiary of Service Corporation Internation

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Last week, the Fifth Circuit decided Geraldine Nicholas v. KBR, Inc., No. 08-20140, (5th Cir. Mar. 15, 2009). The court affirmed the district court’s ruling denying Nicholas’ motion to compel arbitration of her contract dispute with KBR. Nicholas waived her right to arbitrate (pursuant to an arbitration clause) because she substantially invoked the judicial process to the prejudice of KBR. The court applied a two-prong test: Did Nicho

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The Second Circuit ruled recently on the case Arbercheski v. Oracle Corp., No. 06-3472, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5723 (2nd Cir. Mar. 18, 2009) that Oracle has waived its right to arbitration. The court concluded that the plaintiff showed sufficient prejudice from Oracle’s attempt to initiate arbitration proceedings. Some of the facts the court cited were: Oracle’s eleven-month delay between the commencement of litigation and the filing of

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Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to compel arbitration on the grounds that Nokia had waived its rights to arbitrate through its conduct in prior proceedings. The case, Nokia Corp. v. InterDigital, Inc. (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17376) relates to patent infringement and was heard by the Second Circuit on July 31, 2008 (2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 16328). Back then, the Second Circuit concluded that Nokia waive

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