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In a significant win for parties seeking to enforce arbitration agreements, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday issued a unanimous decision in Jules v. Andre Balazs Properties holding that when a federal court stays a case pending arbitration under Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), the federal court retains jurisdiction to later confirm or vacate the resulting arbitration award, even if the post-arbitration motion would not independently satisfy federal subject matter jurisdiction requirements.… Continue Reading

We recently wrote about the new policy statement issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “that the presence of an issuer-investor mandatory arbitration provision will not impact decisions whether to accelerate the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Act.” This reverses the agency’s previous position that it would not use its authority to accelerate the effective date of a company’s registration statement when the company’s governing documents contained a mandatory arbitration provision covering disputes under the federal securities laws.… Continue Reading

Citing a host of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has “determined that the presence of an issuer-investor mandatory arbitration provision will not impact decisions whether to accelerate the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Act.” This new policy statement reverses the agency’s previous position that it would not use its authority to accelerate the effective date of a company’s registration statement when the company’s governing documents contained a mandatory arbitration provision covering disputes under the federal securities laws.… Continue Reading

Our special guest is David Horton, Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, who has written a creative and thought-provoking article analyzing how courts should interpret certain key provisions that are frequently used in consumer arbitration agreements. The article may be accessed online at SSRN and will be published in the Washington University Law Review later this year.… Continue Reading

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced final regulations, effective July 1, 2023, designed to expand and improve the major student loan discharge programs authorized by the Higher Education Act.  Among other things, the final regulations prohibit institutions that participate in the Federal Direct Loan program from requiring borrowers to sign mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements or class-action waivers that would be applicable to disputes about Direct Loans. … Continue Reading

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced proposed regulations designed to expand and improve the major student loan discharge programs authorized by the Higher Education Act.  Among other things, the proposed regulations would prohibit institutions that participate in the Federal Direct Loan program from requiring borrowers to sign mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements or class-action waivers. … Continue Reading

For the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a company seeking to compel individual arbitration of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action claims.  In Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, the Court held that the plaintiff’s claims were exempt from arbitration under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which exempts from the statute’s ambit “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” … Continue Reading

The U.S. Supreme Court today held that waiver of the right to arbitrate does not require a showing that the other party was prejudiced.  The unanimous opinion by Justice Kagan in Morgan v. Sundance reversed the Eighth Circuit, which had held that a party waives the right to arbitrate if it knew of the right, acted inconsistently with that right and prejudiced the other party by its inconsistent actions. … Continue Reading

Prof. Glover is the author of the first major academic study of mass arbitration, which is soon to be published as a law review article.  In Part I of this two-part podcast, after reviewing the historical background of the Federal Arbitration Act, key SCOTUS arbitration decisions, and the evolution of mass arbitration, Prof.… Continue Reading