The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision Monday clarifying that disputes over the interpretation of class-action waivers in employment agreements must be decided by a district court – not an arbitrator.

A recent three-part series in the New York Times (“Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice,” Oct. 31) spotlighted certain abuses and injustices in particular types of arbitration. It has gained wide attention, especially among those who work regularly with alternative dispute resolutions.

A company is trying to get out of paying an Iowa utility millions in a construction dispute by claiming that a retired judge who oversaw the arbitration proceedings had serious hearing problems and napped during the case.

The chasm between civil defense attorneys who extol the virtues of mandatory arbitration agreements and members of the plaintiffs’ bar who say the pacts strip consumers of their right to redress was widened by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.

In a ruling that boosts the authority of arbitrators to interpret crucial contract provisions, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an arbitrator’s decision to allow a plaintiff to bring a class-wide arbitration proceeding when the parties did not expressly agree to allow class-wide relief.

2011AP623, 2011AP2617 In re the marriage of: Symdon v. Symdon

2011AP1039 Mortimore v. Merge Technologies Inc.

2011AP1716 Wausaukee School District v. Wausaukee Education Association

11-2018 & 11-2026 In re USA Baby, Inc.

2011AP2067 Marlow v. IDS Property Casualty Ins. Co.

State courts could not categorically refuse to enforce arbitration clauses in the admission contracts of nursing homes sued for wrongful death, the U.S Supreme Court has ruled in a per curiam decision.

11-2089 Gore v. Alltel Communications, LLC

The U.S. Supreme Court solidified its pro-arbitration stance in a recent decision interpreting the Credit Repair Organizations Act.

Because the Credit Repair Organizations Act is silent on whether claims can proceed in arbitration, the Federal Arbitration Act mandates that the parties’ arbitration agreement be enforced, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

10-948 CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood

11-2343 & 11-2757 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc., v. BCS Ins. Co.

11-2120 Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., v. Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc.

Labor MERC; arbitration Sections 111.70(4)(c)2.b. and (4)(mc)1., read together, permit the negotiation of alternative dispute resolution procedures, but require arbitration as an alternative if sec. 62.13(5) is a designated procedure. “The City additionally cites to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau Summary of Budget Provisions of the Committee of Conference dated October 2007. This summary addresses the changes to collective bargaining law, ...

Given the many demographic and cultural similarities between these Midwestern neighbors, I’ve long been intrigued by how dramatically different the incarceration rates are in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Civil Procedure Arbitration; preemption A state rule that mandatory arbitration is unconscionable, because it does not permit classwide proceedings, is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. Class arbitration, to the extent it is manufactured by Discover Bank rather than consensual, interferes with fundamental attributes of arbitration. The switch from bilateral to class arbitration sacrifices arbitration’s informality and makes the process ...

Civil Procedure Arbitration An arbitration panel has authority to determine what a confidentiality agreement requires, when the agreement was closely related to an insurance arbitration that was already underway. “The district judge also erred in concluding that the arbitrators are powerless to construe the confidentiality agreement. True, that agreement lacks its own arbitration clause, but the parties did agree to ...

Labor Arbitration An arbitration decision that a county violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement by reducing work hours is not void. “Insofar as whether the Award violates ‘a strong public policy,’ see Racine County, 2008 WI 70, ¶11, 310 Wis. 2d at 519, 751 N.W.2d at 317, the Award does not run afoul of that exception to the invulnerability of ...

Civil Procedure Arbitration Questions over the sufficiency of notice is a question for the arbitrator rather than the district court. “Broadspire cites our decision in R.J. Corman Derailment Services, LLC v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 422 F.3d 522, 528 (7th Cir. 2005), in support of its argument to the contrary, but that case is inapposite. In Corman, the parties ...