Four weeks ago, the boundary between public enforcement and private dispute resolution became more blurred.  On September 4, the Justice Department announced that it had agreed to binding arbitration on the key issue in a current merger case—the market definition. The enforcement action is garden variety.  It challenges Novelis Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Aleris Corporation.  According to the DOJ, the transaction would combine two of only four North American producers of aluminum auto body sheet, which automakers…

The Third Circuit welcomed us to the fall arbitration season with an important decision for the gig economy, Singh v. Uber Techs. Inc., 2019 WL 4282185 (3d Cir. Sept. 11, 2019).  Relying on the key logic of SCOTUS’s January ruling in New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira, the Third Circuit concluded that Uber drivers may qualify FAA § 1’s exemption for “any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.”  I…

On March 9 and 10, 2020, the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution is bringing 20 or more of the leading arbitrators and arbitration advocates in the country to Phoenix, AZ to teach at its 13th Annual Arbitration Institute. There are at least five good reasons to think about attending, if you can: (1) It’s being taught by some of the top arbitration practitioners in the country. (2) It will teach new arbitrators the skills needed to…

I’m adding something new to our Blog experience, the ArbitrationNation Bookworm.  Basically, once or twice a month, I’ll provide a brief overview of an article or book that readers of the Blog might find interesting.  I’m also going to add a sidebar that includes other stuff that we’re reading related to arbitration. For the inaugural post, I’m recommending an article from early 2019, Arbitration Nation: Data from Four Providers, by Andrea Cann Chandrasekher and…

Delegation provisions are a hot topic this year!  This week, we’re going to look at two more circuit court decisions centering on delegations and finding ways around them. Just to set the stage, though, I’ve got to put a little egg on my own face.  To quote myself from back in June: “it’s almost impossible to imagine ‘an additional ground or basis’ for invalidating a delegation clause.  The target that a party wanting to…

I can’t believe we’re more than a week into August!  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m going to have to say goodbye to summer too soon.   I love fall, so maybe that’s not so bad? Anyway, speaking of farewells, this week we get a back-to-the-basics refresher from the Eleventh Circuit on waving bye-bye to the right to arbitrate.  Although the particulars involved a consumer arbitration agreement, the key reasoning applies more…

Happy August!  What’s a better way to start the month than thinking about class arbitrability!  Again.  Ugh. Trust me, I would much rather consider so many other exciting arbitration issues, but this one seems to be occupying a lot of court attention, so I’d be remiss not to report on it. Since my last update, I ran across a recent state court’s perspective on the question of who decides class arbitrability.  In Alabama Psychiatric Servs. …