Alternative Dispute Resolution
Aug. 1, 2003
Courts Struggle With Class Arbitration Questions
Paralleling congressional attempts to limit class actions legislatively, federal and state courts continue to struggle judicially with the right to compel arbitration of consolidated claims.
Lawrence Waddington
Neutral, JAMS
Email: waddington1@aol.com
Lawrence is a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge and former assistant attorney general for the state of California. He is author of "Disorder in the Court" at Amazon.com. He also edits the 9th Circuit blog, "The 9th Circuit Watch."
Paralleling congressional attempts to limit class actions legislatively, federal and state courts continue to struggle judicially with the right to compel arbitration of consolidated claims.
Practitioners expected to receive guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether state courts can order class-action arbitration in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 2003 DJDAR 6779 (U.S. June 23, 2003). Instead, the justices merely decided that the language of the arbitration claus...