California continued its ongoing debate on arbitrations and class actions this week when its Supreme Court held that in some cases an arbitrator, not the court, must decide whether an arbitration agreement permits class-wide arbitration. This case is important because it rejects a universal rule on who should be the decision-maker in favor of a case-by-case analysis. In Sandquist v. Lebo Automotive, Inc., No. S220812 (Cal. July 28, 2016), the California Supreme Court did not…

UNITED STATES – In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, the Supreme Court refused to allow class-action defendants to escape liability through an unaccepted offer of full payment of the named plaintiff’s claims. This resolved a deep circuit split on the issue. The Court concluded that “basic principles of contract law” established that once the offer was rejected, the offer could not moot the claim. Interestingly, the Court expressly refused to decide whether a defendant could escape…

UNITED STATES – The Supreme Court has once again spoken decisively in favor of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. In DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, the Court explained in no uncertain terms that “[t]he Federal Arbitration Act is a law of the United States, and Concepcion is an authoritative interpretation of that Act. Consequently, the judges of every State must follow it.” The Court thus reversed a decision of the California Court of Appeal that…