A former L.A. Fitness member who accused the gym of tricking him into buying an annual membership he didn’t want cannot be held to an arbitration agreement he wasn’t shown until after he electronically signed it, a federal district court held. When Beau Briones walked into the L.A. Fitness in Long Beach, California, he just wanted to cancel his cancel his personal training membership. But Briones said a salesperson pressured him into agreeing to one more month and then had him put his John … [Read more...]
Supreme Court Approves of Statistical Sampling To Prove Class Action Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in late March that plaintiffs may use statistical estimates to establish the commonality of their injury, a prerequisite to a court granting the plaintiffs the right to proceed as a class action. The 6-2 ruling is an important victory for all plaintiffs who rely on statistical samples to prove liability and damages. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the Court, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor and Chief Justice Roberts. In Tyson … [Read more...]
Federal Court Strikes Down Arbitration Provision That Sought To Ban Employee Class Actions
Arbitration provisions are everywhere. If you own a cell phone, use a credit card, or subscribe to cable or satellite TV, odds are very high that your contract with those companies contains an arbitration clause. Your employment agreement may very well have an arbitration clause too. Your car loan? The vacation you just booked with an online travel site? All are likely to have an arbitration clause buried somewhere in the fine print. According to a three-part series published in The New York … [Read more...]
U.S. Supreme Court Backs Important Class Action Principle, For Now
In a decision issued on January 20, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court pushed back against efforts by defendants to buy off the named plaintiff in order to avoid class action litigation. In Campbell-Ewald vs. Gomez, the Court ruled that a complete offer of relief by the defendant that is rejected by the representative plaintiff does not moot the class action case. The case arose under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits telephone solicitations using an automated dialing … [Read more...]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Takes Stand Against Arbitration Agreements That Ban Class Actions
After unprecedented levels of fraud by banks put the U.S. into the Great Recession in 2008, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rein the abuse practices of consumer financial companies. This includes banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, payday lenders, private education lenders, debt collectors, and credit reporting companies. Congress authorized the CFPB to enforce existing consumer financial protection laws and propose new regulations to protect consumers from … [Read more...]
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