In about a month, the Supreme Court has gone from zero arbitration-centric cases set for review to four (five if you double count a consolidated case). Just a month ago, we were reporting in SAA 2021-43 (Nov. 18) that, having just heard argument in this Term’s only arbitration-related case then on the oral argument docket…
FINRA Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) posted case statistics through the end of October, with the overall arbitration case filing trends continuing from prior months but with a confirmed major change in mediation stats. In brief, the headlines are: 1) overall arbitration filings through October – 2,527 cases – are down 26% (had been -27% in September); 2) cumulative customer claims, which had…
The looming Thanksgiving break did not deter Congress from moving ahead with proposed legislation governing arbitration use. We have reported episodically on efforts afoot in Congress to regulate, limit, or ban, mandatory predispute arbitration agreement (“PDAA”) use or enforcement in certain situations. Here’s a brief update on some recent activity. Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault…
Arbitrators have an affirmative duty to reveal potential conflicts of interest, especially when such a disclosure is expressly required by the forum in which they serve, and may taint the entire panel via inadequate disclosures. That was the lesson in Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. v. Guerrero, No. 21-2-05414-1-SEA (Wash. Super. Ct., Kings Cty., Oct. 26,…
Having just heard argument in this term’s only arbitration-related case on the oral argument docket, SCOTUS on November 15 granted Certiorari in another case involving arbitration. As reported in SAA 2021-41 (Nov. 4), with a full complement of Justices, oral argument took place November 2 before the Supreme Court in the arbitration-centric Badgerow v. Walters, No. 20-1143. With no other arbitration-related…