Arbitration

Arbitration agreements are a fact of life these days, especially in the employment context.  To be enforceable, those agreements must be fair, both procedurally and substantively.

If parties agree to refer their dispute to a referee rather than go to court, must the judiciary comply with their agreement?  Or does the court have discretion to reject the reference, in effect requiring the parties to litigate despite their agreement to the contrary?The California Supreme Co...

In residential construction disputes, the legislature has mandated that the parties utilize an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure that, hopefully, will cut down on litigation.

In many employment contracts, the employer insists that the employee agree to resolve work-related disputes through binding arbitration. And in some cases, the arbitration clauses are very restrictive – an attempt to prevent runaway awards and prevent an employee from asserting certain rights.

When a collective bargaining agreement contains a clause setting forth time limits for disciplinary action, courts will apply it, even if it means reinstating an employee who has been terminated for sexual harassment.  This was the holding in the case of City of Richmond v.

When there is a dispute as to whether a given dispute must be arbitrated, who decided that question:  the arbitrator or a judge?The general rule is that unless the parties contract to refer the “arbitrability” issue to the arbitrator, it must be decided by the court.

California law requires timely disclosure of all matters that may cause a person to doubt the impartiality of the arbitrator. (See Cal. Code of Civil Procedure, section 1281.9.

In an important decision restating and expounding preexisting doctrine, the court of appeal has ruled that in California arbitrators enjoy broad immunity from liability for their acts as arbitrators.  In La Serena Properties v.

There are differences between the California arbitration statutes (Code of Civil Procedure sections 1280-1294.2) and the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. sections 1-16) and perhaps the clearest difference is when it comes to the arbitration of a class action.

Even thought a judge has a very limited power to overturn an arbitration award, if the arbitrator makes a clear error of law and thereby deprives a person of a statutory claim, the court may vacate the award.