The United States Supreme Court in June of this year, once again, entered an opinion enforcing the right to require bilateral arbitration. In the present environment of clogged courts and expensive litigation, mandatory and binding arbitration is being required by parties and upheld by the courts in many spheres of human activity. These areas include agreements such as the real estate contract form approved by the Florida Realtors and Florida Bar, as well as agreements relating to bank documents, credit card applications, retail purchases and employment.
The question going through the minds of each of us, as we sign such arbitration agreements is: ‘Will the courts force me to arbitrate, or can I get out of it?’ This U.S. Supreme Court opinion and twenty years of precedent that the opinion follows, indicate that you will be bound by your bilateral agreement to arbitrate.
In this 8-1 decision, Justice Alita, on behalf of the court, ruled the Federal Arbitration Act preempts or overrides the California state law that sought to limit the effect of arbitration agreements. The Supreme Court ruled that The State of California had erred when it enacted a process that allowed employees to escape binding arbitration agreements they signed when they were hired.
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled for Viking River Cruises, which sought to block a broad private lawsuit brought on behalf of one of its former sales agents. The case filed in the California court was Viking River Cruises vs. Moriana, 569 U.S. ___ (2022). See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1573_8p6h.pdf
It arose after Angie Moriana quit her job in 2017 as a sales agent for Viking River Cruises and alleged she did not receive her final paycheck on time. She became the lead plaintiff in a private suit alleging multiple violations on behalf of a large group of Viking employees.
Viking objected and said that she and the other employees had agreed to arbitrate “any dispute arising out of or relating to [their] employment,” and that they had waived any right to any “class, collective or private attorney general action.”
The Los Angeles County Superior Court judge and the state appeals court refused to block the lawsuit. Viking appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that California and its state courts refused to honor binding arbitration agreements.
The only dissenter from Wednesday’s ruling was Justice Clarence Thomas, who maintains that the federal law does not apply to proceedings in state courts.
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