DirecTV Supreme Court Ruling Sets Stage for NLRB Battle Over Class Action Waivers

Class action waivers combined with arbitration provisions continue to be a hot-button issue both in the courts and before federal administrative agencies. Most recently, with its ruling in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, et al., on Monday, December 14, 2015, the United States Supreme Court again held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) trumps state laws prohibiting arbitration. This bolstered its previous ruling in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), in which the Supreme Court found that, under the FAA, businesses could use standard-form contracts containing arbitration agreements with class action waivers to forbid consumers from banding together in a single arbitration. The Concepcion decision also held that the FAA trumped state law that forbid mandatory arbitration and class action waivers as unconscionable. Read More ›