By Rebecca Bjork and Gerald L. Maatman Jr.
Let’s say you are in a dispute covered by an arbitration agreement that is vague as to whether class action arbitrations can be brought. You want to ensure that any class claims end up in a court of law instead of before an arbitrator, because you want the right to a rigorous
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer A. Riley, and David B. Ross
On March 21, 2013, the Second Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in Parisi v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., No. 11-5229 (2d Cir. Mar. 21, 2013). In a significant ruling for employers, the Second Circuit held that a plaintiff has no substantive right to pursue a
By Rebecca Bjork, Dan Blouin, and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.
This morning the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133 (U.S.), on whether an arbitration agreement containing a class action waiver can be void on the ground that a litigant has shown that it would
Continue Reading Supreme Court Argument In American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant
By Rebecca Bjork and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral argument this morning in Chen-Oster v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., No. 11-5229 (2d Cir.). The district court in this case had refused to compel arbitration of individual employment discrimination claims, finding that Title VII guaranteed the right to pursue pattern
Continue Reading Stakes Are High In Chen-Oster Oral Argument Before the Second Circuit
By Jennifer Riley and David Ross
Many thought that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011), and CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 132 S.Ct. 665 (2012), had firmly established that private arbitration agreements with class action waivers were enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). However, the National Labor Relations Board
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer Riley, and David Ross
On April 18, 2012, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV issued a decision in Karp v. Cigna Healthcare Inc., No. 11-CV-10361 (D. Mass. Apr. 18, 2012), granting a defense motion to compel bilateral arbitration of the Plaintiff’s claims in a proposed $100 million gender discrimination class action against Cigna. The
We were honored to present today on workplace class action issues at the Annual Conference of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) in Philadelphia with Thomas P. Hams, EPLI Practice Leader at Aon Risk Solutions, and Nicole Franzese, Senior Risk Manager at Best Buy Co., Inc. RIMS is the largest insurance-based educational meeting in the
By Rebecca Bjork and Chris Palamountain
The Plaintiffs’ class action bar has made much of the retroactivity provisions of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provide that an unlawful employment practice occurs not only when a discriminatory decision is made, but also “each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid….” Pub. L. No. 111-2, § 3
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Lorie Almon
CQ recently published an analysis of key issues in workplace class actions.
The analysis focuses on a myriad of cutting-edge issues that impact employers, including the major Rule 23 issues at the heart of cases like Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the impact of the class action jury verdict of $253 million in Velez
Continue Reading New CQ Research Study On Workplace Class Actions
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and David Ross
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning for an AT&T in the highly anticipated case of AT&T Mobility v. Conception [link to ruling]. In a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that declared a class waiver
By