Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » class action waiver

California Court Holds Class Action Waiver Unenforceable

By Beth Graham - October 6, 2010

The Eastern District Court of California has held a class action arbitration agreement waiver unenforceable and refused to compel arbitration against a former employee seeking class action status. In Mathias v. Rent-A-Center, Inc., No. S-10-1476 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 15, 2010), Ryan Mathias, a former Assistant Manager of a Rent-A-Center (RAC) located in California filed a class action lawsuit in California state court which alleged eight claims relate

GUEST-POST | Possible Outcomes for Class Arbitration Waivers in Consumer Contracts

By Victoria VanBuren - June 2, 2010

[Ed. note: Following find interesting comments about AT&T v. Concepcion, a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read more about the case here. These comments were first posted at Paul Lurie’s excellent listserv and we are reprinting them with the author’s permission.] By James M. Gaitis Ultimately, we are faced with at least four different possible outcomes for consumer arbitration provisions containing class preclusion clauses.

GUEST-POST: “Alternative” Dispute Resolution, the Rhetoric of Naming, and the Emerging Trend to Invalidate Mandatory Arbitration Clauses and Class Action Waivers in Consumer Agreements

By Victoria VanBuren - July 27, 2009

By Peter Friedman Part One – The Problem: Mandatory Arbitration clauses that preclude class relief in consumer agreements make arbitration a means of precluding consumers from obtaining any feasible relief. Calling “Alternative Rock” a certain style of music some students at liberal arts colleges enjoy has long given the music a sheen of integrity, the kind of integrity parodied as pretense by calling those fans “granola eaters” who wear Birkenst

NY Federal Court Refuses to Compel Arbitration in Case Involving Law Student Loans

By Victoria VanBuren - April 14, 2009

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided recently Fensterstock v. Education Finance Partners, Inc., No. 08-CV-3622, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30457 (S.D.N.Y. 2009). Plaintiff Fensterstock claims, on behalf of a class, that defendants Education Finance Partners (“EFP”) and Affiliated Computer Services (“ACS”) improperly applied an undisclosed fee to his law student loans. EFP and ACS filed a motion

Ninth Circuit Finds Class Action Waiver Unconscionable

By Victoria VanBuren - March 31, 2009

In Chalk v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 06-35909 (9th Cir. Mar. 27, 2009), the issue before the Ninth Circuit is whether a class action waiver in an agreement between T-Mobile and its customers is unconscionable under Oregon law. Steward and Chalk (plaintiffs) bought from T-Mobile a PC card manufactured by Sony. The card enables computers to connect wirelessly to the Internet. By signing the one-year service agreement with T-Mobile, the plaintiffs ac

Class Action Arbitration Waiver Found Unenforceable

By Victoria VanBuren - February 12, 2009

On January 30th, 2009, the Second Circuit refused to enforce an arbitration clause contained in American Express Co. merchants’ agreement. In Re: American Express Merchants’ Litigation, No. 06-1871 (2d Cir. 2009). The clause would prevent merchants who accept the card from bringing class-action antitrust claims against American Express. Like the Texas Supreme Court in In re Poly-America, L.P., the Second Circuit cited section 2 of the