Enforcement of Agreements – Preemption

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Supreme Court of the United States

Case Name: DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia

Case No: 14-462

Practice Area: Enforcement of Agreements – Preemption

California Court of Appeals Interpretation of Service Agreement between corporation and customers preempted by Federal Arbitration Act.

“The court added that it would interpret “‘ambiguous language against the interest of the party that drafted it,’” namely DIRECTV. 225 Cal. App. 4th, at 345, 170 Cal. Rptr. 3d, at 196 (quoting Mastrobuono, 514 U. S., at 62). The dissent adopts a similar argument. See post, at 7–9. But, as we have pointed out, supra, at 8, were the phrase “law of your state” ambiguous, surely some court would have construed that term to incorporate state laws invalidated by, for example, federal labor law, federal pension law, or federal civil rights law. Yet, we have found no such case. Moreover, the reach of the canon construing contract language against the drafter must have limits, no matter who the drafter was. The fact that we can find no similar case interpreting the words “law of your state” to include invalid state laws indicates, at the least, that the antidrafter canon would not lead California courts to reach a similar conclusion in similar cases that do not involve arbitration.”

Reversed and Remanded.

BREYER, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and SCALIA, KENNEDY, ALITO, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion. GINSBURG, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOTOMAYOR, J., joined.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.