Justia Arbitration & Mediation Opinion Summaries

The Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) filed a grievance against the University Laboratory School (ULS), alleging that the ULS refused to implement the proper salary placement for teachers as agreed to in a supplemental agreement negotiated by the HSTA and the Hawaii Board of Education. The ULS argued that the step placement chart the HSTA sought to enforce had never been agreed upon or incorporated into the agreement. The HSTA subsequently filed a grievance and a motion to compel arbitration of its grievance. The circuit court denied the HSTA’s motion to compel arbitration. The intermediate court of appeals concluded that the circuit court did not err in denying HSTA’s motion, determining that the Hawaii Labor Relations Board had primary jurisdiction over the issues raised in the HSTA’s grievance and that the HSTA’s motion to compel arbitration was premature. The Supreme Court vacated the ICA’s judgment, holding that because the parties agreed to leave questions of arbitrability to the arbitrator, the circuit court erred in refusing to grant the HSTA’s motion to compel arbitration after concluding that an arbitration agreement existed. Remanded.View "Haw. State Teachers Ass’n v. Univ. Lab. Sch." on Justia Law

Plaintiff leased property from Defendants pursuant to a lease agreement that included an arbitration clause. Plaintiffs later sued Defendants over disputes regarding the lease. After engaging in litigation with Plaintiff for more than two years, Defendants filed a motion to stay the proceedings pending arbitration under the parties’ lease agreement. Plaintiff objected to the motion, arguing that Defendants had waived their right to enforce the arbitration clause by engaging in lengthy litigation. The trial court granted Defendants’ motion, concluding, as a matter of law, that a party cannot waive enforcement of an arbitration clause in a contract. The Appellate Court affirmed, concluding that the record was inadequate for review because the trial court failed to make any factual findings on the issue of waiver. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) because the legal basis of the trial court’s decision was at issue, a factual record on the question of waiver was not necessary to review the trial court’s decision; and (2) the trial court based its judgment on an incorrect statement of the law, and therefore, the court erred in granting Defendants’ motion for a stay pending arbitration. View "MSO, LLC v. DeSimone" on Justia Law

Defendants, collectively referred to as “InterDigital,” and LG Electronics, Inc. entered into a non-disclosure agreement, titled “Agreement Governing Confidential Settlement Communications (the NDA), after LG filed a demand for arbitration with the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. InterDigital claimed that the parties did not intend to prevent the submission of pre-NDA evidence to the arbitral tribunal and disclosed in its brief to the tribunal alleged settlement communications. LG then filed this action seeking injunctive relief compelling InterDigital to withdraw its brief, claiming that InterDigital breached the NDA by submitting the documents to the arbitrators. InterDigital moved to dismiss LG’s complaint in favor of arbitration, asking the Court of Chancery to exercise its discretion under the doctrine established in McWane Cast Iron Pipe Corp. v. McDowell-Wellman Engineering Co. to dismiss the action in favor of the earlier-filed arbitral proceeding. The Court of Chancery dismissed the action in favor of the earlier-filed arbitral proceeding under the McWane doctrine, concluding that this case met the McWane doctrine’s requirements. View "LG Elecs., Inc. v. Interdigital Commc’ns, Inc." on Justia Law

When Respondent was promoted from her position was an hourly employee to a salaried managerial position at one of Appellants’ long-term care facilities, the parties signed an employment agreement and arbitration agreement. Appellants later terminated Respondent from her position. Respondent filed a class action lawsuit against Appellants seeking compensation for allegedly unpaid overtime hours. Appellants filed a motion to compel arbitration, but the circuit court overruled the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Respondent’s continued at-will employment and Appellants’ promise to resolve claims through arbitration did not provide valid consideration to support the arbitration agreement. View "Baker v. Bristol Care, Inc." on Justia Law

The Union appealed from the district court's order vacating an arbitration award. PSC argued that the plain language of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the Standards of Conduct mandate that an employee found guilty of insubordination be discharged. PSC claimed that after the arbitrator found that the employee at issue in this case had been insubordinate, the arbitrator was required to uphold the employee's discharge. The court concluded that whether the employee's discharge was for just cause was a matter of contract interpretation that was within the arbitrator's authority. In this case, the arbitrator did not exceed his authority by concluding that PSC did not have just cause to discharge the employee and by reducing the penalty from discharge to suspension, because his award draws its essence from the CBA. The court reversed and remanded with directions that the arbitration award be reinstated. View "PSC Custom, LP v. United Steel, Paper, etc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit on behalf of himself and a putative class of consumers whose Touchpad orders had been cancelled, alleging that Barnes & Noble had engaged in deceptive business practices and false advertising. On appeal, Barnes & Noble challenged the district court's denial of its motion to compel arbitration against plaintiff under the arbitration agreement contained in its website's Terms of Use. The court held that there was no evidence that the website user had actual knowledge of the agreement. The court also held that where a website makes its terms of use available via a conspicuous hyperlink on every page of the website but otherwise provides no notice to users nor prompts them to take any affirmative action to demonstrate assent, even close proximity of the hyperlink to relevant buttons users must click on - without more - is insufficient to give rise to constructive notice. Therefore, the court concluded that there is nothing in the record to suggest that those browsewrap terms at issue are enforceable by or against plaintiff, much less why they should give rise to constructive notice of Barnes & Noble's browsewrap terms. In light of the distinguishing facts, the district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Barnes & Noble's estoppel argument. Accordingly, the court held that plaintiff had insufficient notice of Barnes & Noble's Terms of Use, and thus did not enter into an arbitration agreement. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble Inc." on Justia Law

The issues before the Supreme Court in this case arose from an attorney fee dispute arbitration conducted under the state Revised Uniform Arbitration Act. The two primary issues related to the appropriate standard of review when a party asserts an arbitration decision was procured by fraud and the possible application of non-statutory public policy grounds to vacate an arbitration award. The Alaska Supreme Court adopted the federal standard for reviewing claims where an arbitration decision was procured by fraud, and concluded the arbitration panel’s decision that there was no fraud was not reviewable. Furthermore, the Court concluded that on the facts found by the arbitration panel, there was no basis to vacate the arbitration decision on public policy grounds. View "McAlpine v. Priddle" on Justia Law

Plaintiff and his company entered into a personal service agreement to act as technology reporter with KTLA, a television broadcaster. After the personal service agreement was terminated, plaintiff and his company filed suit alleging breach of contract, age discrimination, unfair business practices, and misappropriation of plaintiff's likeness. On appeal, KTLA challenged an order denying its motion to compel arbitration. The court concluded that defendant forfeited the right to compel compliance with the collective bargaining agreement's non-arbitration provisions in the three-step grievance process; the arbitration provisions of the three-step grievance process did not allow KTLA to compel arbitration between it and plaintiff and his company; and the trial court, not an arbitrator, resolves the substantive arbitrability issue, notwithstanding the holding in John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston. Accordingly, the court affirmed the order denying the motion to compel arbitration. View "Knutsson v. KTLA" on Justia Law

In 2006, Lincoln T. Griswold purchased an $8.4 million life insurance policy. Griswold established a Trust for the sole and exclusive purpose of owning the policy and named Griswold LLP as the Trust’s sole beneficiary. In 2008, the Trust sold its policy to Coventry First LLC. The written purchase agreement contained an arbitration clause. After learning that the policy was sold for an allegedly inflated price that included undisclosed kickbacks to the broker, Griswold sued. Coventry moved to dismiss the case for lack of standing or, in the alternative, to compel arbitration. The district court denied the motion, concluding that both Griswold and the LLP had standing and that the arbitration clause was unenforceable as to the plaintiffs, who were non-signatories. Coventry appealed. The Third Circuit (1) concluded that it lacked appellate jurisdiction to review the district court’s denial of Coventry’s motion to dismiss; and (2) affirmed the district court’s denial of the motion to compel arbitration against the plaintiffs, as they never consented to the purchase agreement. View "Griswold v. Coventry First LLC" on Justia Law

The Union filed suit against a nuclear energy facility to compel arbitration after a union employee was discharged without just cause. The court reversed the district court's denial of the Union's motion to compel arbitration where the Union's grievance, on its face, clearly falls within the scope of the arbitration clause. View "Int'l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. NextEra Energy Point Beach LLC" on Justia Law