Amy B. Messigian, an Associate in the Employment, Labor, and Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Los Angeles office, authored an article in HR Hero’s California Employment Law Letter titled “Here We Go Again: Another California Court Invalidates an Arbitration Agreement.”
Following is an excerpt:
Employers and their lawyers rejoiced. Now that the Supreme Court had ruled, lower courts would fall in line, and arbitration agreements would stand a better chance of being enforced in California. It didn’t turn out to be that simple, however. Just because Concepcion removed a particular threat to enforceability didn’t mean that arbitration agreements were guaranteed to be enforced by the courts moving forward. Judges who had previously invalidated arbitration agreements under California’s public policy against class action waivers simply invalidated agreements on other grounds, including unconscionability. Indeed, courts remain free to consider whether the terms of an agreement and the manner in which it is presented to the employee are unreasonable and, if so, reject the agreement.