Where a broker executed trades on investors’ portfolio margin accounts in clear violation of a rule of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., or FINRA, the arbitration panel did not manifestly disregard the law by imposing liability against the broker, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Where choice-of-law-provisions required the application of tribal law, they operated as a prospective waiver of a party’s right to pursue statutory remedies and, as a result, violated public policy and were unenforceable. Background In this appeal, the court considers the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge G. Steven Agee

Where arbitration agreements included within the terms of payday loans provided for the application of tribal law, to the exclusion of any contrary federal statutory law, the agreements were unenforceable because they prevented a plaintiff from effectively vindicating certain federal ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge G. Steven Agee

The company could not produce arbitration agreements with the named plaintiff and 71 opt-ins. An affidavit about its corporate policy of requiring agreements was insufficient without testimony from persons personally involved in the onboarding process. And while the company produced ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration

A company president who signed three agreements with a Chinese company that contained clauses requiring arbitration of any disputes in China could not use his unilateral decision not to hire his own Chinese counsel or his own independent Chinese interpreter ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where the collective bargaining agreement between Safeway and its union did not define what constitutes “good cause” to terminate an employee, the arbitrator’s decision to reinstate the grievant was not an irrational interpretation. However, because Safeway’s position was plausible and ...

Tagged with: Arbitration Judge John F. Anderson U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Teeing up a circuit split, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a party to private arbitration in the United Kingdom can obtain testimony from residents of South Carolina for use in the arbitration. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Where an agreement involving defense contractors excluded Title VII claims from arbitration “unless and until federal law no longer prohibits the Firm from mandating arbitration of such claims,” and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP no longer performs the work that prohibited mandatory arbitration, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.

In an issue of first impression, the court joined the Sixth Circuit in holding a private arbitral panel is a “tribunal” under 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a), which allows a district court to order testimony or documents for use in the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The case was ordered to arbitration because, although the warranty company selected the arbitration service, there was no evidence the rules and processes would be one-sided, unfair or biased against the homeowners. In addition, the homeowners only speculated the arbitration ...

Tagged with: Arbitration Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District