Last week, the stock market had its worst week since October, but if you had GameStop stock, you were feeling pretty good. It grew 400 percent, fueled by the Reddit page r/WallStreetBets, where members bought stocks of companies that appeared on the way down, inflating their prices and putting the hedge fund managers who had shorted the stock in a bad position.
Read moreSupreme Court clarifies test of arbitrator impartiality and arbitrators' duty of disclosure
In Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd,(1) the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss an application to remove an arbitrator on the grounds of apparent bias. The Supreme Court confirmed the Court of Appeal's decision that arbitrators are under a duty to disclose appointments in references concerning the same or overlapping subject matter with a common party, although the Supreme Court's reasoning differed. On the facts of this case, while the Supreme Court found that the arbitrator had breached his disclosure obligations, it further held that an objective observer would not have justifiable doubts as to the arbitrator's impartiality.
Read moreA Company’s Best Friend – An Effectively-Drafted Arbitration Clause in an IC Agreement: December 2020 News Update
December was a very slow month for court decisions affecting independent contractors, but both decisions reported below confirm that effectively drafted arbitration clauses remain one of two “best friends” for businesses that engage independent contractors. On the very day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira in January 2019, we predicted here that, despite some commentators’ exuberance and others’ despair, the decision “may have little or no impact as to whether workers classified as independent contractors can be compelled to arbitrate their IC misclassification claims.” In New Prime, the Supreme Court held that a court, not an arbitrator, should decide if an IC is covered by the Federal Arbitration Act’s arbitration exclusion for workers engaged in interstate transportation. We commented that the FAA is not the only basis upon which companies can seek to compel arbitration; most state arbitration laws, which typically do not have exclusions for interstate transportation workers, also may provide an alternative basis to compel arbitration of IC misclassification class action claims. That is exactly what transpired in one of the two IC arbitration cases we discuss below.
Read moreSupreme Court clarifies key principles and reinforces arbitration-friendly approach
Commercial dispute resolution specialists Gwendoline Davies, Lynsey Oakdene and Nick McQueen consider two recent Supreme Court judgments of significance to the international arbitration community. The first clarifies the approach to determining the governing law of an arbitration agreement and to granting anti-suit injunctions; the second clarifies the law on arbitrator bias and the duties of impartiality and disclosure.
Read moreArbitration and landlord-tenant disputes: What you need to know about the recent Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court has clarified that, unless it is specifically determined by a court of law that a landlord-tenant dispute cannot be referred to arbitration, an arbitration clause in an agreement shall be valid and fully enforceable.
Read moreArbitration Where You’re Not Expecting It
In the decade since the Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333, 339 (2011) and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurants, 570 U.S. 228, 233 (2013), arbitrability has become a threshold question for class action practitioners. On the plaintiffs’ side, a cautious practitioner might avoid bringing a claim that falls within an enforceable arbitration clause. And on the defendants’ side, the first move will be to invoke an arbitration clause with a class waiver whenever there is contractual privity between a plaintiff and a defendant. Arbitrability thus becomes a quasi-dispositive question, independent of a case’s merits.
Read moreKey Supreme Court Cases From the 2019-20 Term and a Look Ahead to the 2020-21 Term
On September 23, 2020, a panel of Skadden attorneys hosted a webinar entitled “Key Supreme Court Cases From the 2019-20 Term and a Look Ahead to the 2020-21 Term.” Panelists Julie Bédard, Boris Bershteyn, Jocelyn E. Strauber and Jonathan Marcus discussed cases recently resolved by, or still pending before, the U.S. Supreme Court concerning separation of powers, employment discrimination, government enforcement remedies, securities law, arbitration, and the Alien Tort Statute and Affordable Care Act. (The discussion was held prior to the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.)
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