Hedging the Risk of Mass Arbitration: Waivers, Pre-Dispute Resolution, Batching, Sequencing, New Rules, and More
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Class Action and Other Litigation
- event Date
Thursday, April 25, 2024
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE webinar will discuss the pitfalls and abuses of mass arbitration (especially in the privacy and consumer areas) and defense responses to high costs, and complications resulting from those responses. The panel will address best strategies and practices, including drafting techniques for class waivers, arbitration clauses, mass-arbitration waivers and workarounds, the new AAA mass arbitration rules, recent federal regulations and cases, and challenges to batching and bellwether procedures.
Mr. Herrington's practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including class actions in the areas of false advertising, unfair competition, food and beverage, consumer products, insurance, and products liability. He helps sophisticated business clients address complex disputes and competitive challenges to their products, services and business practices.
Mr. Ranlett defends businesses in complex class and representative actions in state and federal courts across the country, as well as in high stakes and mass arbitrations. His clients are national and multinational corporations in a variety of industries, including financial services, telecommunications, insurance, and Internet and technology sectors. He has successfully resolved a wide variety of claims, including allegations of false or deceptive advertising, data-breach and other privacy claims, and alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, federal securities laws, the Alien Tort Claims Act, and various consumer-protection and unfair-trade and deceptive-practices acts. Mr. Ranlett He also advises businesses in drafting and enforcing arbitration agreements and in establishing fair and effective dispute-resolution programs with consumers and workers. And he assists businesses with compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other consumer-protection laws. Mr. Ranlett is a co-editor of Class Defense, the firm’s blog on key issues affecting class action law and policy. He also has served as a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches advanced appellate advocacy.
Mr. Sandy is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who represents individuals, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies in civil and commercial litigation. He focuses on advising national mortgage servicing companies, national banks, national auto finance companies, and small businesses in cases involving federal and state regulatory matters, consumer complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and single-plaintiff lawsuits. Jim regularly defends lawsuits brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and Truth in Lending Act (TILA) in both state and federal courts. In addition to single-plaintiff cases, Jim also has experience defending financial institutions, particularly auto finance companies, in class actions brought in state and federal court.
Although class action waivers and arbitration clauses remain the best defense to class actions, the rise of mass arbitrations has generated its own set of problems. Courts have ordered defendants to pay filing fees for thousands of individual arbitration claimants and have largely rejected efforts by corporate defendants to obtain relief from onerous fees.
The use of this tactic has led to the emergence of adaptations in arbitration agreements to specifically tackle mass claims and to new arbitration providers introducing mass arbitration protocols and fee structures. This shift has triggered court challenges to batching and bellwether procedures, with notable rulings finding that arbitration agreements containing such batching provisions may be unconscionable.
Since this trend shows no signs of stopping, counsel facing mass arbitration threats in 2024 need to understand what tools may be most effective at defeating them as this area of law continues to develop.
Listen as our renowned panel of class action lawyers discusses how to address the threat of mass arbitrations.
- Rise of mass arbitration
- Problematic language in contracts and best alternatives
- Defense responses
The panel will review these and other pivotal issues:
- What wording in arbitration agreements is most effective to reduce the risk of mass arbitration?
- Are there ways to shift costs and the risk of frivolous claims to plaintiffs?
- Why have some courts found batching and bellwether procedures unconscionable?
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