Introduction

If you have ever telephoned a customer support hotline to be greeted with an explanation that “this call may be monitored for quality assurance,” you are familiar with the implications of various state laws governing the recording of telephone conversations. Most states have cold-war era wiretapping laws, with some states providing for two-party consent, meaning the recording party must announce to the other party it plans to record the call. Thus, the industry standard practice is to announce the call shall be recorded to avoid civil liability from such wiretapping statutes that provide private rights of action.Continue Reading CIPA: An Old Statute Provides a New Frontier for Serial Filing Plaintiffs Against Retailers with Online Chat Services

On June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, No. 22-105, 2023 WL 4138983 (U.S. June 23, 2023), that will provide further protection for parties seeking arbitration. The issue presented to the Court was whether a district court must stay its proceedings while an interlocutory appeal on the question of arbitrability is ongoing. The Court held that a district court must stay its proceedings pending such an appeal.Continue Reading Supreme Court Rules that District Courts Must Stay Proceedings Pending Interlocutory Appeals of Denials of Motions to Compel Arbitration

In response to a wave of Supreme Court decisions affirming the enforceability of class action waivers in arbitration agreements, plaintiffs’ firms began using the arbitration agreement’s language (and/or the arbitration provider’s rules) requiring that the entity pay virtually all the fees and costs associated with arbitration against the entities that drafted them through a process now referred to as “mass arbitration.”Continue Reading A Primer on Mass Arbitration