IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA
ALEXANDER M. LITTLE,
Plaintiff and Respondent,
S101435
v.
Ct.App. 2/5 B147003
AUTO STIEGLER, INC.,
Los Angeles County
Defendant and Appellant.
Super. Ct. No. BC230809
In this case, we consider four interlocking questions: (1) Is a provision in a
mandatory employment arbitration agreement that permits either party to “appeal”
an arbitration award of more than $50,000 to a second arbitrator, unconscionable;
(2) if it is unconscionable, then should that unconscionable provision be severed
from the rest of the arbitration agreement and the agreement enforced, or is the
entire agreement invalid; (3) if the former, then in reviewing the rest of the
arbitration agreement, do the minimum requirements for arbitration of unwaivable
statutory claims that we set forth in Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare
Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83 (Armendariz) apply also to claims that an
employee was terminated in violation of public policy; (4) if yes, then must one of
those requirements that the employer imposing mandatory arbitration on the
employee must pay all costs unique to arbitration be reconsidered and revised
in light of a post-Armendariz United States Supreme Court decision on arbitration
1
costsharing, Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Randolph (2000) 531 U.S. 79 (Green
Tree).
We conclude as follows: (1) the appellate arbitration provision for
arbitration awards over $50,000 is unconscionable; (2) that provision should be
severed and the rest of the arbitration agreement enforced; (3) a suit claiming
wrongful termination in violation of public policy should be subject to the
requirements set forth in Armendariz; and (4) Green Tree does not require that we
modify Armendariz’s cost requirements. We accordingly partly reverse the Court
of Appeal’s judgment.
I. STATEMENT OF FACTS
Alexander Little worked for Auto Stiegler, Inc., an automobile dealership.
Little eventually rose to become Auto Stiegler’s service manager. He alleges that
he was demoted, then terminated, for investigating and reporting warranty fraud.
He filed an action against defendant for tortious demotion in violation of public
policy; tortious termination in violation of public policy; breach of an implied
contract of continued employment; and breach of the implied covenant of good
faith and fair dealing. In the first through third causes of action, he sought
compensatory and punitive damages. In the fourth cause of action, plaintiff sought
only contract breach damages. He sought no relief under the Fair Employment
and Housing Act (FEHA). (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.)
Little signed three nearly identical arbitration agreements while employed
by defendant in June 1995, October 1996, and January 1997. The most recent of
the three stated as follows: “I agree that any claim, dispute, or controversy
(including, but not limited to, any and all claims of discrimination and harassment)
which would otherwise require or allow resort to any court or other governmental
dispute resolution forum between myself and the Company (or its owners,
directors, and officers, and parties affiliated with its employee benefit and health
2
plans) arising from, related to, or having any relationship or connection
whatsoever with my seeking employment with, employment by, or other
association with, the Company, whether based on tort, contract, statutory, or
equitable law, or otherwise, shall be submitted to and determined exclusively by
binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, in conformity with the
procedures of the California Arbitration Act (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. Sec 1280 et
seq., including section 1283.05 and all of the act’s other mandatory and permissive
rights to discovery); provided, however, that: In addition to requirements imposed
by law, any arbitrator herein shall be a retired California Superior Court Judge and
shall be subject to disqualification on the same grounds as would apply to a judge
of such court. To the extent applicable in civil actions in California courts, the
following shall apply and be observed: all rules of pleading (including the right of
demurrer), all rules of evidence, all rights to resolution of the dispute by means of
motions for summary judgment, judgment on the pleadings, and judgment under
Code of Civil Procedure section 631.8. Resolution of the dispute shall be based
solely upon the law governing the claims and defenses pleaded, and the arbitrator
may not invoke any basis other than such controlling law, including but not
limited to, notions of ‘just cause.’ As reasonably required to allow full use and
benefit of this agreement’s modifications to the act’s procedures, the arbitration
shall extend the times set by the act for the giving of notices and setting of
hearings. Awards exceeding $50,000.00 shall include the arbitrator’s written
reasoned opinion and, at either party’s written request within 20 days after
issuance of the award, shall be subject to reversal and remand, modification, or
reduction following review of the record and arguments of the parties by a second
arbitrator who shall, as far as practicable, proceed according to the law and
procedures applicable to appellate review by the California Court of Appeal of a
3
civil judgment following court trial. I understand by agreeing to this binding
arbitration provision, both I and the Company give up our rights to trial by jury.”
Auto Stiegler’s initial motion to compel arbitration was granted. Following
our decision in Armendariz, the trial court, upon plaintiff’s request for
reconsideration, denied defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. The trial court
ruled: “The court believes that the arbitration clause in issue does not meet the
standards set forth by the Supreme Court and it should not be enforced. The
clauses of the arbitration agreement that do not comport with the requirements of
the Armendariz [decision] include the clauses that: [¶] 1. Require the Plaintiff to
share the costs; [¶] 2. Provide for no judicial review. The court deems this fatal, as
judicial review of all decisions is not the same as limited review by another
arbitrator of only certain awards; [¶] 3. Limit the remedies available to the
complaintant [sic] [to] possibly exclude equitable as opposed to legal remedies, to
which he might otherwise be entitled. [¶] 4. Lack of mutuality of remedy, in that
this clause, unlike the one in Armendariz does not obviously bind the employer to
likewise enforce its right in the arbitration forum.”
The Court of Appeal reversed. It held that the Armendariz requirements
did not apply to nonstatutory claims. Further, it rejected the claim that the
arbitration agreement was unconscionable. It focused on Armendariz’s discussion
of whether both parties were bound to arbitrate, and concluded that the arbitration
agreements did in fact bind both parties. The Court of Appeal did not consider
whether the arbitration “appeal” triggered by an award of greater than $50,000
was unconscionable. Finally, the court concluded that under the United States
Supreme Court’s decision in Green Tree, silence as to who would bear the costs of
arbitration was not a basis for invalidating the agreement. We granted review.
4
II. DISCUSSION
A. Unconscionability of Appellate Arbitration Provision
As recounted, the arbitration agreement provided that “[a]wards exceeding
$50,000.00 shall include the arbitrator’s written reasoned opinion and, at either
party’s written request within 20 days after issuance of the award, shall be subject
to reversal and remand, modification, or reduction following review of the record
and arguments of the parties by a second arbitrator who shall, as far as practicable,
proceed according to the law and procedures applicable to appellate review by the
California Court of Appeal of a civil judgment following court trial.” Little
contends this provision is unconscionable. We agree.
To briefly recapitulate the principles of unconscionability, the doctrine has
“ ‘both a “procedural” and a “substantive” element,’ the former focusing on
‘ “oppression” ’ or ‘ “surprise” ’ due to unequal bargaining power, the latter on
‘ “overly harsh” ’ or ‘ “one-sided” ’ results.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p.
114.) The procedural element of an unconscionable contract generally takes the
form of a contract of adhesion, “ ‘which, imposed and drafted by the party of
superior bargaining strength, relegates to the subscribing party only the
opportunity to adhere to the contract or reject it.’ ” (Id. at p. 113.) “[I]n the case
of preemployment arbitration contracts, the economic pressure exerted by
employers on all but the most sought-after employees may be particularly acute,
for the arbitration agreement stands between the employee and necessary
employment, and few employees are in a position to refuse a job because of an
arbitration requirement.” (Id. at p. 115.) It is clear in the present case that Auto
Stiegler imposed on Little an adhesive arbitration agreement.
Substantively unconscionable terms may take various forms, but may
generally be described as unfairly one-sided. One such form, as in Armendariz, is
5
the arbitration agreement’s lack of a “ ‘modicum of bilaterality,’ ” wherein the
employee’s claims against the employer, but not the employer’s claims against the
employee, are subject to arbitration. (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 119.)
Another kind of substantively unconscionable provision occurs when the party
imposing arbitration mandates a post-arbitration proceeding, either judicial or
arbitral, wholly or largely to its benefit at the expense of the party on which the
arbitration is imposed. Two Court of Appeal cases have addressed this kind of
unconscionability.
In
Benyon v. Garden Grove Medical Group (1980) 100 Cal.App.3d 698
(Benyon), the medical group imposed on its patients a mandatory arbitration
agreement. Paragraph B of the agreement authorized the medical group, but not
the patient, to reject the first arbitration award and submit the dispute to a second
arbitration panel. The court held the provision unconscionable. “That the
provisions of paragraph B unreasonably limit the obligations of the health plan and
health care provider and defeat the reasonable expectations of one enrolling in the
plan is manifest. The term arbitration normally imports a dispute resolution
procedure which is speedy, economical and ‘bears equally’ on the parties.
[Citation.] The provisions of paragraph B, however, are weighted in favor of the
health plan and provider of services and against members and can render
arbitration an expensive and protracted proceeding. By granting to only the health
plan or health care provider the unilateral right to reject an arbitration award
without cause and to require rearbitration, paragraph B enables the health plan and
health care provider to transform arbitration into virtually a ‘heads I win, tails you
lose’ proposition.” (Benyon, supra, 100 Cal.App.3d at p. 706.)
Saika v. Gold (1996) 49 Cal.App.4th 1074 (Saika), also arose in the
doctor/patient setting. The arbitration agreement in that case had a provision that
permitted either party to reject an arbitration award of $25,000 or greater and
6
request a trial de novo in superior court. The Court of Appeal refused to enforce
the provision and instead directed the trial court to confirm the $325,000 award in
the patient’s favor. The court rejected the doctor’s argument that the case was
distinguishable from Benyon because the challenged arbitration provision
permitted either party to request a trial de novo if the award exceeded the stated
amount. “[I]n the vernacular of late 20th century America, let us ‘get real.’ As a
practical matter, the benefit which the trial de novo clause confers on patients is
nothing more than a chimera. The odds that an award will both (a) clear the
$25,000 threshold but (b) still be so low that the patient would want to have a trial
de novo are so small as to be negligible. Unless we are to assume that arbitrators
in medical malpractice cases regularly and capriciously make awards substantially
below what justice requires and that is an assumption which we will not
indulge the cases where the trial de novo clause could possibly benefit the
patient are going to be rare indeed.” (Saika, supra, 49 Cal.App.4th at p. 1080.)
The court concluded that “the rejection clause meant the arbitration agreement
really did not function as an arbitration agreement. The promise of an
inexpensive, speedy resolution to the claim evaporated with one party’s unilateral
ability to avoid results it did not like. [¶] We have already referred to the strong
public policy favoring arbitration. That policy is manifestly undermined by
provisions in arbitration clauses which seek to make the arbitration process itself
an offensive weapon in one party’s arsenal.” (Id. at p. 1081.)
Auto Stiegler and its amici curiae make several arguments to distinguish
this case from Benyon and Saika. First, they claim that the arbitration appeal
provision applied evenhandedly to both parties and that, unlike the doctor/patient
relationship in Saika, there is at least the possibility that an employer may be the
plaintiff, for example in cases of misappropriation of trade secrets. (See, e.g.,
Brennan v. Tremco Inc. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 310.) But if that is the case, they fail to
7
explain adequately the reasons for the $50,000 award threshold. From a plaintiff’s
perspective, the decision to resort to arbitral appeal would be made not according
to the amount of the arbitration award but the potential value of the arbitration
claim compared to the costs of the appeal. If the plaintiff and his or her attorney
estimate that the potential value of the claim is substantial, and the arbitrator rules
that the plaintiff takes nothing because of its erroneous understanding of a point of
law, then it is rational for the plaintiff to appeal. Thus, the $50,000 threshold
inordinately benefits defendants. Given the fact that Auto Stiegler was the party
imposing the arbitration agreement and the $50,000 threshold, it is reasonable to
conclude it imposed the threshold with the knowledge or belief that it would
generally be the defendant.
Although parties may justify an asymmetrical arbitration agreement when
there is a “legitimate commercial need” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 117),
that need must be “other than the employer’s desire to maximize its advantage” in
the arbitration process. (Id. at p. 120.) There is no such justification for the
$50,000 threshold. The explanation for the threshold offered by amicus curiae
Maxie, Rheinheimer, Stephens & Vrevich that an award in which there is less
than that amount in controversy would not be worth going through the extra step
of appellate arbitral review makes sense only from a defendant’s standpoint and
cannot withstand scrutiny.
Auto Stiegler also argues that an arbitration appeal is less objectionable
than a second arbitration, as in Benyon, or a trial de novo, as in Saika, because it is
not permitting a wholly new proceeding, making the first arbitration illusory, but
only permitting limited appellate review of the arbitral award. We fail to perceive
a significant difference. Each of these provisions is geared toward giving the
arbitral defendant a substantial opportunity to overturn a sizable arbitration award.
Indeed, in some respects appellate review is more favorable to the employer
8
attempting to protect its interests. It is unlikely that an arbitrator who merely acts
in an appellate capacity will increase an award against the employer, whereas a
trial or arbitration de novo at least runs the risk that the employer would become
liable for an even larger sum than that awarded in the initial arbitration.
We therefore conclude that the arbitral appeal provision in this particular
agreement is unconscionably one-sided and may not be enforced. We next turn to
the question whether this provision may be severed and the rest of the arbitration
agreement enforced, or whether the entire agreement should be invalidated.
B. Is the Unconscionable Portion of the Agreement Severable?
In
Armendariz, we reviewed the principles regarding the severance of
illegal terms from an arbitration agreement. As we stated: “Two reasons for
severing or restricting illegal terms rather than voiding the entire contract appear
implicit in case law. The first is to prevent parties from gaining undeserved
benefit or suffering undeserved detriment as a result of voiding the entire
agreement particularly when there has been full or partial performance of the
contract. [Citations.] Second, more generally, the doctrine of severance attempts
to conserve a contractual relationship if to do so would not be condoning an illegal
scheme. [Citations.] The overarching inquiry is whether ‘ “the interests of justice
. . . would be furthered” ’ by severance. [Citation.] Moreover, courts must have
the capacity to cure the unlawful contract through severance or restriction of the
offending clause, which . . . is not invariably the case.” (Armendariz, supra, 24
Cal.4th at pp. 123-124.) Accordingly, “[c]ourts are to look to the various purposes
of the contract. If the central purpose of the contract is tainted with illegality, then
the contract as a whole cannot be enforced. If the illegality is collateral to the
main purpose of the contract, and the illegal provision can be extirpated from the
9
contract by means of severance or restriction, then such severance and restriction
are appropriate.” (Id. at p. 124.)
In
Armendariz, we found two factors weighed against severance of the
unlawful provisions. “First, the arbitration agreement contains more than one
unlawful provision; it has both an unlawful damages provision and an
unconscionably unilateral arbitration clause. Such multiple defects indicate a
systematic effort to impose arbitration on an employee not simply as an alternative
to litigation, but as an inferior forum that works to the employer’s advantage. . . .
[¶] Second, in the case of the agreement’s lack of mutuality, . . . permeation [by
an unlawful purpose] is indicated by the fact that there is no single provision a
court can strike or restrict in order to remove the unconscionable taint from the
agreement. Rather, the court would have to, in effect, reform the contract, not
through severance or restriction, but by augmenting it with additional terms. Civil
Code section 1670.5 does not authorize such reformation by augmentation, nor
does the arbitration statute. Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2 authorizes the
court to refuse arbitration if grounds for revocation exist, not to reform the
agreement to make it lawful. Nor do courts have any such power under their
inherent limited authority to reform contracts. [Citations.]” (Armendariz, supra,
24 Cal.4th at pp. 124-125.)
Neither of these factors are operative in the present case. There is only a
single provision that is unconscionable, the one-sided arbitration appeal.1 And no
1
We note that the other three grounds the trial court found in this case for
refusing to enforce the arbitration agreement, described in the statement of facts
above, do not appear to be valid. First, the fact that an arbitration agreement does
not explicitly provide for judicial review is no basis for invalidating it.
(Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 107.) Second, unlike in Armendariz, nothing
in the language of the present agreement limits remedies and no limitation should
be implied. Finally, unlike the agreement in Armendariz, which explicitly limited
(footnote continued on next page)
10
contract reformation is required the offending provision can be severed and the
rest of the arbitration agreement left intact. Thus, the courts in Benyon and Saika,
considering similar provisions, severed them and enforced the rest of the
arbitration agreement. (Benyon, supra, 100 Cal.3d at p. 713; Saika, supra, 49
Cal.4th at p. 1082.)
Moreover, there is no indication that the state of the law was “sufficiently
clear at the time the arbitration agreement was signed to lead to the conclusion that
this [appellate arbitration provision] was drafted in bad faith.” (Armendariz,
supra, 24 Cal.4th at pp. 124-125, fn. 13.) There is enough of a difference between
the appellate arbitration provision, drafted in the employment context, and the de
novo trial and arbitration provisions in the doctor/patient setting in Benyon and
(footnote continued from previous page)
the scope of the arbitration agreement to wrongful termination claims and
therefore implicitly excluded the employer’s claims against the employee (id. at
pp. 92, 120), the arbitration agreement in the present case contained no such
limitation, instead applying to “any claim, dispute, or controversy . . . between [the
employee] and the Company.”
Amicus curiae California Employment Lawyers Association points to other
provisions in the agreement that are, in its view, contrary to public policy or
unconscionable. Essentially, amicus curiae objects to the incorporation of legal
formalities into Auto Stiegler’s arbitration agreement: its mandate that the rules of
pleading and evidence shall be observed, that the arbitrator shall only rely on
governing law and not informal principles of “just cause,” and that traditional
judicial motions such as demur and summary judgment be available to the parties.
They claim that such procedures detract from the inherent informality of
arbitration. Without more, however, we cannot say that these provisions, which
make arbitration more closely follow judicial procedures, are unconscionably one-
sided. It is not at all obvious that such provisions would inordinately benefit Auto
Stiegler rather than Little. To the extent that the availability of dispositive pre-
arbitration motions favor Auto Stiegler as defendant, they confer no more of an
advantage than would be the case had the action been brought in court.
11
Saika, to preclude a determination that the provision was directly contrary to
settled law and therefore inferentially drafted in bad faith.
We therefore conclude that Auto Stiegler’s arbitration agreement is valid
and enforceable once the unconscionable appellate arbitration provision is deleted.
Whether a court should refuse to enforce it on other grounds will be considered
below.
C. Is Arbitration of a Tameny Claim Subject to the Minimal
Procedural Requirements Set Forth in Armendariz?
In
Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167, 178, we
recognized that although employers have the power to terminate employees at
will, they may not terminate an employee for a reason that is contrary to public
policy. Little claims that arbitration of Tameny claims are subject to the minimum
requirements set forth in Armendariz, reviewed below. We agree.
In
Armendariz, we held that arbitration of claims under the FEHA is subject
to certain minimal requirements: (1) the arbitration agreement may not limit the
damages normally available under the statute (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at
p. 103); (2) there must be discovery “sufficient to adequately arbitrate their
statutory claim” (id. at p. 106); (3) there must be a written arbitration decision and
judicial review “ ‘sufficient to ensure the arbitrators comply with the requirements
of the statute’ ” (ibid.); and (4) the employer must “pay all types of costs that are
unique to arbitration” (id. at p. 113).
These requirements were founded on the premise that certain statutory
rights are unwaivable. “This unwaivability derives from two statutes that are
themselves derived from public policy. First, Civil Code section 1668 states: ‘All
contracts which have for their object, directly or indirectly, to exempt anyone from
responsibility for his own fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of
another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent, are against the policy of
12
the law.’ ‘Agreements whose object, directly or indirectly, is to exempt [their]
parties from violation of the law are against public policy and may not be
enforced.’ [Citation.] Second, Civil Code section 3513 states, ‘Anyone may
waive the advantage of a law intended solely for his benefit. But a law established
for a public reason cannot be contravened by a private agreement.’ [Citations.]”
(Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 100.) We concluded that the FEHA was
enacted for public reasons and the rights it conferred on employees were
unwaivable. (Id. at pp. 100-101.) We then concluded that the above requirements
were necessary to enable an employee to vindicate these unwaivable rights in an
arbitration forum.
A
Tameny claim is almost by definition unwaivable. “[The] public policy
exception to the at-will employment rule must be based on policies ‘carefully
tethered to fundamental policies that are delineated in constitutional or statutory
provisions . . . .’ ” (Silo v. CHW Medical Foundation (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1097,
1104.) Moreover, the public policy that is the basis for such a claim must be
“ ‘ “public” ’ in that it ‘ “affects society at large” ’ rather than the individual, must
have been articulated at the time of discharge, and must be ‘ “ ‘fundamental’ ” ’
and ‘ “ ‘substantial.’ ” ’ ” (Ibid.) Thus, a legitimate Tameny claim is designed to
protect a public interest and therefore “ ‘cannot be contravened by a private
agreement.’ ” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 100.) In other words, an
employment agreement that required employees to waive claims that they were
terminated in violation of public policy would itself be contrary to public policy.
Accordingly, because an employer cannot ask the employee to waive Tameny
claims, it also cannot impose on the arbitration of these claims such burdens or
procedural shortcomings as to preclude their vindication. Thus, the Armendariz
requirements are as appropriate to the arbitration of Tameny claims as to
unwaivable statutory claims.
13
Auto Stiegler cites Brown v. Wheat First Securities, Inc. (D.C. Cir. 2001)
257 F.3d 821 (Brown), which came to a contrary conclusion with respect to a
claim for termination in violation of public policy under District of Columbia law.
The court held that Cole v. Burns International Security Services (D.C Cir. 1997)
105 F.2d 1465 (Cole), a case on which Armendariz relied, and which set forth
requirements for arbitrating claims under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
similar to the Armendariz requirements, should be limited to federal statutory
claims, not state tort claims derived from common law. In Brown, an employee of
a securities firm was allegedly terminated for alerting the Securities and Exchange
Commission to illegal activities occurring at his employer’s firm. He claimed to
fall within the “whistleblower” exception to the employment-at-will rule under
District of Columbia common law. He refused to participate in subsequent
arbitration and moved to vacate the arbitration award on the grounds that he was to
be charged substantial arbitration fees, contrary to Cole.
The
Brown court, which consisted of a different panel of the District of
Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals than had decided Cole, began by reviewing the
latter decision. As the Brown court summarized it, Cole acknowledged “that the
Supreme Court in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. 500 U.S. 20, 111 S.Ct.
1647 (1991) [(Gilmer), had ‘made clear that, as a general rule, statutory claims are
fully subject to binding arbitration.’ [citations][.] [But] we also noted that
‘Gilmer cannot be read as holding that an arbitration agreement is enforceable no
matter what rights it waives or what burdens it imposes,’ [citation]. The
arbitration agreement will be valid ‘so long as the prospective litigant effectively
may vindicate [his or her] statutory cause of action in the arbitral forum.’
[Citations.] As to fees, we found that ‘it would undermine Congress’s intent to
prevent employees who are seeking to vindicate statutory rights from gaining
access to a judicial forum and then require them to pay for the services of an
14
arbitrator when they would never be required to pay for a judge in court.’
[Citation.] Accordingly we interpreted the arbitration agreement as requiring the
employer to pay the arbitrator’s fees.” (Brown, supra, 257 F.3d at pp. 824-825.)
The
Brown court, in rejecting the extension of Cole to nonstatutory claims,
pointed to language in Cole limiting its holding to such claims. The court further
stated: “We also see no basis for extending Cole. As we have explained, our
central rationale respecting congressional intent does not extend beyond the
statutory context. Moreover, by enacting the Federal Arbitration Act, Congress
‘manifest[ed] a “liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements.” ’
[Citations]. The Act also pre-empted state restrictions on the enforcement of
arbitration agreements. Gilmer, as we’ve seen, framed the question as whether
dispute resolution under the FAA was consistent with the federal right-creating
statute in question. [Citation.] For a common law claim under District of
Columbia law, any such inconsistency would be resolved in favor of the only
federal law involved, the FAA.” (Brown, supra, 257 F.3d at pp. 825-826.)
We disagree with the Brown court, at least insofar as its decision would be
interpreted to preclude extension of the Armendariz requirements to Tameny
claims. First, although Cole was a Title VII case properly focused on mandatory
arbitration of federal statutory rights, its rationale extends beyond that context
generally to unwaivable rights conferred for a public benefit. The statement in
Gilmer that provides the point of departure in Cole “’[b]y agreeing to arbitrate
a statutory claim, [an employee] does not forgo the substantive rights afforded by
the statute; [he] only submits to their resolution in an arbitral, rather than a
judicial, forum’ ” (Cole, supra, 105 F.3d at p. 1481, quoting Gilmer, supra, 500
U.S. at p. 26) would apply equally to nonstatutory public rights.
The
Brown court’s apparent position that only federal statutory rights may
be subject to Cole’s requirements, because any attempt to place conditions on
15
arbitration based on state law would be preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act
(FAA), is incorrect. The FAA provides that arbitration agreements are “valid,
irrevocable and enforceable save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for
the revocation of any contract.” (9 U.S.C. § 2.) Thus, “[a] state-law principle that
takes its meaning precisely from the fact that a contract to arbitrate is at issue does
not comport with the text of section 2 [of the FAA].” (Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v.
Casarotto (1996) 517 U.S. 681, 685, italics omitted.) But under section 2 of the
FAA, a state court may refuse to enforce an arbitration agreement based on
“generally applicable contract defenses, such as fraud, duress, or
unconscionability.” (Doctor’s Associates, Inc., supra, 517 U.S. at p. 687.) One
such long-standing ground for refusing to enforce a contractual term is that it
would force a party to forgo unwaivable public rights, as reviewed above. (See,
e.g., Baker Pacific Corp v. Suttles (1990) 220 Cal.App.3d 1148, 1153-1154
[mandatory employee waiver of all employer liability for asbestos exposure
contrary to public policy].)2
2
We note the prohibition against exculpatory contracts contrary to public
policy is generally invoked in the context of contracts of adhesion. (See, e.g.,
Baker Pacific Corp v. Suttles, supra, 220 Cal.App.3d at p. 1151; Tunkl v. Regents
of University of California (1963) 60 Cal.2d 92, 99-100.) Thus, as with
unwaivable statutory claims, special arbitration requirements for Tameny claims
“would generally not apply in situations in which an employer and an employee
knowingly and voluntarily enter into an arbitration agreement after a dispute has
arisen. In those cases, employees are free to determine what trade-offs between
arbitral efficiency and formal procedural protections best safeguard their . . .
rights.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 103, fn. 8.) Nor would our
conclusion that waiver of the right is contrary to public policy preclude a party
from settling a claim based on that right. (See, e.g., Jefferson v. Department of
Youth Authority (2002) 28 Cal.4th 299 [approving an agreement and release
settling a FEHA claim].)
16
Thus, while we recognize that a party compelled to arbitrate such rights
does not waive them, but merely “submits to their resolution in an arbitral, rather
than a judicial, forum” (Gilmer, supra, 500 U.S. at p. 26), arbitration cannot be
misused to accomplish a de facto waiver of these rights. Accordingly, although
the Armendariz requirements specifically concern arbitration agreements, they do
not do so out of a generalized mistrust of arbitration per se (see Doctor’s
Associates, Inc., supra, 517 U.S. at p. 687), but from a recognition that some
arbitration agreements and proceedings may harbor terms, conditions and practices
that undermine the vindication of unwaivable rights. The Armendariz
requirements are therefore applications of general state law contract principles
regarding the unwaivability of public rights to the unique context of arbitration,
and accordingly are not preempted by the FAA. And, as discussed above, there is
no reason under Armendariz’s logic to distinguish between unwaivable statutory
rights and unwaivable rights derived from common law.
We recognize that “[i]n enacting § 2 of the [FAA], Congress declared a
national policy favoring arbitration and withdrew the power of the states to require
a judicial forum for the resolution of claims which the contracting parties agreed
to resolve by arbitration.” (Southland Corp. v. Keating (1984) 465 U.S. 1, 10
(Southland).) The object of the Armendariz requirements, however, is not to
compel the substitution of adjudication for arbitration, but rather to ensure
minimum standards of fairness in arbitration so that employees subject to
mandatory arbitration agreements can vindicate their public rights in an arbitral
forum.
Specifically, with regard to arbitration costs at issue in this case and in
Brown, the principle that arbitration costs may prevent arbitration claimants from
effectively pursuing their public rights would apply with equal force to Tameny
claims as to FEHA claims or to federal statutory claims. Nothing in the FAA
17
prevents states from controlling arbitration costs imposed by adhesive contracts so
that the remedy of prosecuting state statutory or common law public rights through
arbitration is not rendered illusory. The Armendariz costshifting requirement is
unique to arbitration only to the extent that arbitration, alone among contract
provisions, may potentially require litigants to expend large sums to pay for the
costs of the hearing that will decide his or her statutory other public rights. In
other words, it is not the arbitration agreement itself but the imposition of
arbitration forum costs that under certain circumstances violate state law.
Moreover,
Armendariz’s cost rule does not “require a judicial forum for the
resolution of claims which the contracting parties agreed to resolve by arbitration.”
(Southland, supra, 465 U.S. at p. 10) Rather, we simply required that employers
pay arbitration forum costs under certain circumstances as a condition of
arbitration. Nothing in the United States Supreme Court case law leads us to
believe that a state requirement shifting arbitration costs in mandatory
employment agreements to the employer pursuant to established state law contract
doctrine violates the FAA.
Furthermore, Code of Civil Procedure section 1284.2, which provides that
each party pay a pro rata share of arbitration costs unless the agreement provides
otherwise, does not alter our conclusion. We held in Armendariz that this statute
does not preclude the judicial imposition of proportionally greater costs on the
employer in the case of FEHA claims. (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 112.)
We reasoned that “the agreement to arbitrate a statutory claim is implicitly an
agreement to abide by the substantive remedial provisions of the statute” and that
the FEHA implicitly prohibited large arbitration costs that would stand as an
obstacle to successfully pursuing rights conferred on the employee. (Ibid.) We
similarly conclude that an agreement to arbitrate a claim of wrongful termination
contrary to public policy must be interpreted to implicitly include an agreement to
18
proportion costs in a manner that is reasonable for the employee/claimant, in order
to prevent the de facto waiver of unwaivable rights contrary to Civil Code sections
1668 and 3513, discussed above. Code of Civil Procedure section 1284.2’s
default provision does not compel a contrary conclusion.
Therefore, we conclude that a plaintiff/employee seeking to arbitrate a
Tameny claim should have the benefit of the same minimal protections as for
FEHA claims as a means of ensuring that they can effectively prosecute such a
claim in the arbitral forum.3 These include the availability of damages remedies
equal to those available in a Tameny suit brought in court, including punitive
damages (Commodore Home Systems, Inc. v. Superior Court (1982) 32 Cal.3d
211, 220); discovery sufficient to adequately arbitrate Tameny claim; a written
arbitration decision and judicial review sufficient to ensure that arbitrators have
complied with the law respecting such claims; and allocation of arbitration costs
so that they will not unduly burden the employee.
We have already rejected the contentions that the arbitration agreement in
the present case limited Little’s remedies or his ability to obtain adequate judicial
3
Auto Stiegler also cites Brennan v. Tremco, supra, 25 Cal.4th 310 in
support of its position that Tameny claims are not subject to the Armendariz
requirements. In Brennan, we held that no suit for malicious prosecution may be
maintained for an action that the parties resolve through contractual arbitration. In
discussing the reasons for this rule, the court stated: “the nature of private
arbitration does not always allow for a ready determination of whether or why the
prior action actually terminated in the malicious prosecution plaintiff’s favor.
Except for statutory claims [citing Armendariz], an arbitrator need not explain the
basis of an award.” (Brennan, supra, at p. 317.) Brennan did not consider the
extension of Armendariz to Tameny claims, and may not be relied upon by Auto
Stiegler. (People v. Superior Court (Zamudio) (2000) 23 Cal.4th 183, 198
[“ ‘cases are not authority for propositions not considered’ ”].) Nor does our
extension of Armendariz to Tameny claims undermine Brennan’s point that in
most arbitrations, the arbitrator need not explain the basis for the award.
19
review. Nor is it evident from the agreement that Little will be unable to obtain
adequate discovery. Little argues, however, that there is a risk of burdensome
costs being imposed on him, contrary to Armendariz. We consider this arguments
in the next part of our opinion.4
D. Cost Sharing and Arbitration of Tameny Claims
Little argues that the arbitration agreement’s silence on the issue of costs
means that he would be statutorily compelled to share costs under Code of Civil
Procedure section 1284.2, and that the imposition of such costs renders the
arbitration agreement unenforceable. Armendariz did not conclude that an
arbitration agreement silent on costs was unenforceable. On the contrary, we held
we would infer from such silence an agreement that “the employer must bear the
arbitration forum costs” and that “[t]he absence of specific provisions on
arbitration costs would . . . not be grounds for denying the enforcement of an
arbitration agreement.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 113.)
The California Motorcar Dealers Association, amicus curiae on behalf of
Auto Stiegler, argues that our holding on costs in Armendariz has been supplanted
by the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S. 79.
Because the allocation of arbitration costs will be at issue on remand, we address
the relationship between Armendariz and Green Tree.
In
Green Tree, the plaintiff, purchaser of a mobile home, sued her lender on
various federal statutory grounds, including violation of the Truth in Lending Act
(TILA) (15 USC § 1601 et seq.) for failing to disclose certain finance charges.
4
Auto Stiegler argues that even if Armendariz is extended to Tameny claims,
Little’s complaint does not state facts sufficient to allege a Tameny cause of
action. Neither the trial court nor the Court of Appeal addressed this issue, and we
express no view on the matter. On remand, Auto Stiegler will have an opportunity
to reassert this argument.
20
(Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S. at pp. 82-83.) The buyer’s agreement with the
lender contained a binding arbitration clause that included all statutory claims.
The agreement was silent on the issue of who would pay the costs of arbitration.
The district court granted the lender’s motion to compel arbitration but the court of
appeals reversed, holding that the agreement posed the risk that the plaintiff’s
“ability to vindicate her statutory rights would be undone by ‘steep’ arbitration
costs and therefore was unenforceable.” (Id. at p. 84.)
The United States Supreme Court reversed. It first reaffirmed its long-
standing position that statutory claims are arbitrable under the FAA absent the
expression of congressional intent “to preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for
the statutory rights at issue.” (Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S. at p. 90.) Finding no
such expression in the TILA, the court proceeded to address the borrower’s
argument that silence on the matter of arbitration costs created an unacceptable
risk that she might have to pay prohibitive costs and therefore not be able to
vindicate her statutory rights through arbitration. The court stated: “It may well
be that the existence of large arbitration costs could preclude a litigant such as
Randolph from effectively vindicating her federal statutory rights in the arbitral
forum. But the record does not show that Randolph will bear such costs if she
goes to arbitration. Indeed, it contains hardly any information on the matter. As
the Court of Appeals recognized, ‘We lack . . . information about how claimants
fare under Green Tree’s arbitration clause.’ The record reveals only the arbitration
agreement’s silence on the subject, and that fact alone is plainly insufficient to
render it unenforceable. The ‘risk’ that Randolph will be saddled with prohibitive
costs is too speculative to justify the invalidation of an arbitration agreement.”
(Id. at pp. 90-91, fns. omitted.)
The court further explained: “To invalidate the agreement on that basis
would undermine the ‘liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements.’
21
[Citation.] It would also conflict with our prior holdings that the party resisting
arbitration bears the burden of proving that the claims at issue are unsuitable for
arbitration. [Citation.] We have held that the party seeking to avoid arbitration
bears the burden of establishing that Congress intended to preclude arbitration of
the statutory claims at issue. [Citation.] Similarly, we believe that where, as here,
a party seeks to invalidate an arbitration agreement on the ground that arbitration
would be prohibitively expensive, that party bears the burden of showing the
likelihood of incurring such costs. Randolph did not meet that burden. How
detailed the showing of prohibitive expense must be before the party seeking
arbitration must come forward with contrary evidence is a matter we need not
discuss; for in this case neither during discovery nor when the case was presented
on the merits was there any timely showing at all on the point. The Court of
Appeals therefore erred in deciding that the arbitration agreement’s silence with
respect to costs and fees rendered it unenforceable.” (Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S.
at pp. 91-92, italics added, fn. omitted.)
Although
Green Tree was not an employment case, most courts interpreting
it have done so in the employment context. These courts have arrived at divergent
meanings of the “prohibitively expensive” standard. Some courts have interpreted
that term narrowly and maintain that it does not affect the validity of the
categorical position set forth in Cole, supra, 105 F.3d 1465 that the employer
should pay the costs of a mandatory employment arbitration of statutory claims.
(See. e.g., Circuit City Stores v. Adams (2002) 279 F.3d 889; Cooper v. MRM
Investment Company (M.D. Tenn.) 199 F.Supp.2d 771, 781; Ball v. SFX
Broadcasting, Inc. (N.D.N.Y.) 165 F.Supp.2d 230.) Other courts have held that
Green Tree represents a departure from Cole’s categorical position, and requires a
case-by-case analysis based on such factors as the employee’s ability to pay the
arbitration fees and the differential between projected arbitration and litigation
22
fees. (See, e.g., Blair v. Scott Specialty Gases (3d Cir. 2002) 283 F.3d 595, 609
(Blair); Nelson v. Insignia/ESG, Inc. (D.D.C. 2002) 215 F.Supp.2d 143; Bradford
v. Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Inc. (4th Cir. 2001) 238 F.3d 549 (Bradford).)
Still other courts have held the information presented by the employee before
arbitration was too speculative to warrant invalidation of the arbitration
agreement, while retaining jurisdiction to reconsider the cost issue after
arbitration. (See, e.g., Mildworm v. Ashcroft (E.D.N.Y. 2002) 200 F.Supp.2d 171;
Boyd v. Town of Hayneville (M.D. Alabama 2001) 144 F.Supp.2d 1272.)
Armendariz and Green Tree agree on two fundamental tenets. First, silence
about costs in an arbitration agreement is not grounds for denying a motion to
compel arbitration. Second, arbitration costs can present significant barriers to the
vindication of statutory rights. Nonetheless, there may be a significant difference
between the two cases. Although Green Tree did not elaborate on the kinds of
costsharing arrangements that would be unenforceable, dicta in that case, and
several federal cases cited above interpreting it, suggest that federal law requires
only that employers not impose “prohibitively expensive” arbitration costs on the
employee (Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S. at p. 92), and that determination of
whether such costs have been imposed are to be made on a case-by-case basis.
Armendariz, on the other hand, categorically imposes costs unique to arbitration
on employers when unwaivable rights pursuant to a mandatory employment
arbitration agreement are at stake. Assuming that Green Tree and Armendariz
pose solutions to the problem of arbitration costs that are in some respects
different, we do not agree with amicus curiae that the FAA requires states to
comply with federal arbitration costsharing standards.
As reviewed in the previous part of this opinion, Armendariz’s cost-shifting
requirement is not preempted by the FAA. It is not a barrier to the enforcement of
arbitration agreements, nor does it improperly disfavor arbitration in comparison
23
to other contract clauses. Rather, it is derived from state contract law principles
regarding the unwaivability of certain public rights in the context of a contract of
adhesion. We do not discern from the United States Supreme Court’s
jurisprudence on FAA preemption a requirement that state law conform precisely
with federal law as to the manner in which such public rights are protected.
Furthermore, we considered and rejected in Armendariz a case-by-case
approach to arbitration costs similar to that suggested by courts interpreting Green
Tree based on the differential between projected arbitration and litigation fees.
(Blair, supra, 283 F.3d at p. 609; Bradford, supra, 238 F.3d at p. 556.) As we
stated: “To be sure, it would be ideal to devise a method by which the employee is
put in exactly the same position in arbitration, costwise, as he or she would be in
litigation. But the factors going into that calculus refuse to admit ready
quantification. Turning a motion to compel arbitration into a mini-trial on the
comparative costs and benefits of arbitration and litigation for a particular
employee would not only be burdensome on the trial court and the parties, but
would likely yield speculative answers.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p.
111.) The individualized consideration of employees’ ability to pay arbitration
costs that courts interpreting Green Tree contemplate (see Blair, supra, 283 F.3d
at p. 609; Bradford, supra, 238 F.3d at p. 556) would further complicate the case-
by-case calculation of prohibitive expense. We also rejected in Armendariz the
notion that “there [would] be an advantage to apportioning arbitration costs at the
conclusion of the arbitration rather than at the outset. Without clearly articulated
guidelines, such a postarbitration apportionment would create a sense of risk and
uncertainty among employees that could discourage the arbitration of meritorious
claims.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 111.) We see no reason to
reevaluate these conclusions in light of Green Tree and its progeny.
24
In short, for reasons stated above, we do not believe that the FAA requires
state courts to adopt precisely the same means as federal courts to ensure that the
vindication of public rights will not be stymied by burdensome arbitration costs.
We continue to believe that Armendariz represents the soundest approach to the
problem of arbitration costs in the context of mandatory employment arbitration.
We therefore conclude that on remand the court compelling arbitration should
require the employer to pay in this case “all types of costs that are unique to
arbitration.” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 113.)
III. DISPOSITION
The judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed insofar as it (1) permits
enforcement of a clause allowing arbitral review only of awards greater than
$50,000 and (2) requires arbitration of Little’s Tameny claim, assuming he has
adequately alleged such a claim, without requiring Auto Stiegler to pay arbitration
forum costs as set forth in Armendariz. The cause is remanded to the Court of
Appeal with instructions to direct the superior court to conduct further proceedings
consistent with the views expressed in this opinion. In all other respects, the Court
of Appeal’s judgment is affirmed.
MORENO, J.
WE CONCUR: GEORGE, C. J.
KENNARD,
J.
WERDEGAR,
J.
25
CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION BY BAXTER, J.
I agree with the majority that the “over $50,000” clause in the arbitration
agreement was unconscionable, and therefore unenforceable, but was severable.
On the other hand, I agree with Justice Brown that the special procedural rules for
contractual arbitration of statutory claims, as set forth in Armendariz v.
Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83 (Armendariz),
should not be extended to so-called Tameny claims that an employee was
wrongfully terminated in violation of public policy (see Tameny v. Atlantic
Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167).1
I also dissent from the majority’s decision to retain rules, first announced in
Armendariz, for allocation of the costs of mandatory arbitration of statutory
claims.2 In my view, intervening United States Supreme Court authority sharply
1
Throughout this opinion, I use the terms “contractual arbitration,”
“arbitration contract,” and “arbitration clause” to refer to agreements for
mandatory arbitration of disputes that may arise in the future. As the majority
indicate, different considerations apply to parties’ agreements to arbitrate disputes
that have already arisen.
2
I use the term “statutory claims” throughout the following discussion
because, like Justice Brown, I would not extend the cost protections of Armendariz
beyond rights arising directly from statute to other causes of action, such as
Tameny claims, which the majority may consider “nonwaivable.”
1
undermines the soundness of Armendariz’s approach, and should prompt us to
alter our analysis of the cost issue.
To recap briefly: Code of Civil Procedure section 1284.23 states that unless
the arbitral parties agree otherwise, arbitration costs shall be shared pro rata.
Though section 1284.2 is an implied term of every arbitration agreement silent on
costs, Armendariz deemed it preempted in part by the need to ensure that financial
considerations would not deter an employee who had agreed to mandatory
arbitration from using that forum to pursue a statutory claim of discrimination
under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). To resolve this problem,
Armendariz held that notwithstanding section 1284.2, and regardless of any
particularized showing of hardship or need, FEHA impliedly requires an employer
to pay all the employee’s “forum costs” of contractual arbitration of a FEHA
claim. (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th 83, 107-113.)
Thereafter, the United States Supreme Court decided Green Tree Financial
Corp.-ALA. v. Randolph (2000) 531 U.S. 79 (Green Tree). Green Tree held that
where Congress has evinced no intent to limit the arbitrability of a particular
federal statutory claim, a party seeking to avoid mandatory contractual arbitration
of such a claim has the burden of showing that the costs of arbitration he is likely
to incur will render that forum “prohibitively expensive.” (Id. at p. 92.) To deny
contractual arbitration on the mere risk of undue cost, said Green Tree, “would
undermine the ‘liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements . . .’
[citation] [and] would also conflict with our prior holdings that the party resisting
arbitration bears the burden of proving that the claims at issue are unsuitable for
3
All further unlabeled statutory references are to the Code of Civil
Procedure.
2
arbitration. [Citations.]” (Id. at p. 91.) Central to Green Tree’s analysis, of
course, was the rule of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA; 9 U.S.C. § 2.) that
arbitration agreements involving interstate commerce may be invalidated only on
grounds applicable to contracts generally. (Green Tree, supra, at p. 89.)
Despite Green Tree, the instant majority retain Armendariz’s “employer
always pays” cost formula. The majority say Green Tree does not strictly require
us to alter Armendariz’s application of California contract law to the issue of
arbitration costs. On that technical point, the majority may or may not be correct.
As Green Tree makes clear, however, the FAA, which governs both federal and
state arbitration law, was adopted “ ‘to reverse the longstanding judicial hostility
to arbitration agreements . . . and to place [such] agreements upon the same
footing as other contracts.’ ” (Green Tree, supra, 531 U.S. 79, 89, quoting
Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. (1991) 500 U.S. 20, 24 (Gilmer).) Green
Tree holds in essence that even where the vindication of statutory rights is at stake,
when courts interfere with an arbitration agreement by presuming undue cost to
one party, they exhibit particular “hostility” and suspicion toward contractual
arbitration, which the FAA was intended to prevent.
At direct odds with this principle is the current California requirement that
the employer must always pay the employee’s “forum costs” of arbitrating a
statutory claim, regardless of actual need, and contrary to a California law that
implies a cost-sharing term in every arbitration contract unless the parties
expressly agree otherwise. I believe Green Tree warrants reconsideration of the
Armendariz majority’s views on cost allocation.
It should be noted that in articulating California’s minimum requirements
for mandatory contractual arbitration of statutory claims, Armendariz placed
primary reliance on a federal case, Cole v. Burns Intern. Security Services
(D.C. Cir. 1997) 105 F.3d 1465 (Cole). Among other things, Cole concluded that
3
an employee could not be forced by contract to arbitrate federal statutory rights if
also required to pay any part of the arbitrator’s fee. (Id. at p. 1485.) Armendariz
quoted with approval Cole’s assertion that in Gilmer, supra, 500 U.S. 20, the high
court had “ ‘endorsed a system of [mandatory contractual] arbitration [of federal
statutory claims] in which employees are not required to pay for the arbitrator
[and] [t]here [was] no reason to think that the Court would have approved
arbitration in the absence of this arrangement.’ ” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th
83, 107-108, quoting Cole, supra, at p. 1484.)4 Green Tree has since destroyed
that assumption. While the Green Tree majority did not expressly disapprove
Cole, they essentially negated Cole’s conclusions about the cost-sharing
requirements of a valid scheme for arbitration of federal statutory claims.
Under the circumstances, I would overrule Armendariz’s arbitrary cost
allocation formula. In its place, I would adopt Green Tree’s principle that if a
party resists mandatory contractual arbitration of a statutory claim on grounds of
undue cost, he must make a timely, particularized showing of the expected
expense, and must also demonstrate that, in his particular case, this cost would
make arbitration prohibitively expensive as compared to court litigation. Evidence
on this issue could be presented to the court deciding a motion to compel
arbitration. If the party opposing arbitration demonstrated prohibitive expense, the
court could grant the motion to compel upon the condition that the proponent of
4
Cole conceded that cost allocation was not an issue in Gilmer, supra,
500 U.S. 20. This, Cole explained, was because the arbitration in Gilmer, between
a brokerage firm and its employee, was subject to a standard securities industry
practice that the employer pays the arbitrator’s fees. (Cole, supra, 105 F.3d 1465,
1483.)
4
arbitration accept, with the caveat discussed below, a more equitable allocation of
costs.
I close with one final point. In light of the strong policy favoring
arbitration on the terms agreed by the parties, interference with the arbitration
contract’s cost provisions, express or implied by statute, should be countenanced
only to the degree actually necessary to assure that mandatory resort to the arbitral
forum has not deterred vindication of a statutory claim. For this reason, whatever
pre-arbitration reallocation of costs may be necessary to ensure that the claimant is
not deterred in advance, this allocation should be tentative only, and should be
subject to readjustment once the true expenses and rewards of the arbitral
proceeding are known.
In hindsight, it may become apparent that the actual costs of arbitration,
with its faster, simpler, and more economical procedures, were less than the
probable expenses of resolving the same claim in court. Even if they were greater,
the difference may prove so minimal, given the claimant’s general financial ability
or the magnitude of his final recovery, that forcing the other party to absorb all the
claimant’s forum costs, contrary to their agreement, is an unfair interference with
contractual arbitration. Under these circumstances, the party who “fronted” costs
for the claimant should be reimbursed for the excess.
I see no reason why the arbitrator cannot, subject to appropriate judicial
review, reassess the cost allocation at the conclusion of the proceedings.5 “When
5
I assume that when granting a motion to compel contractual arbitration
(§ 1281.2), the superior court could condition its order both on a tentative
reallocation of costs, and on the parties’ agreement that the court would retain
power to review any readjustment later ordered by the arbitrator. Moreover, a
power to review cost readjustments should also be within the court’s jurisdiction
in the event either party moves to vacate the arbitration award. (§ 1285 et seq.)
5
apportioning costs, the arbitrator should consider the magnitude of the costs
unique to arbitration, the ability of the employee to pay a share of these costs, and
the overall expense of the arbitration as compared to a court proceeding.”
(Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th 83, 129 (conc. opn. of Brown, J.).) As indicated
above, the amount actually recovered by the claimant in arbitration should also be
a relevant consideration. “Ultimately, any apportionment should ensure that the
costs imposed on the employee, if known at the onset of litigation, would not have
deterred her from enforcing her statutory rights or stopped her from effectively
vindicating these rights. [Citation.]” (Ibid.)
Believing Armendariz was dispositive, the employee in this case (Little)
never sought to make a showing of prohibitive expense. Believing Green Tree
was dispositive, the Court of Appeal simply held that the arbitration agreement’s
silence on costs was no bar to its unconditional enforcement. As I have indicated,
I would overrule Armendariz to the extent it is inconsistent with Green Tree.
Thus, if I believed Little’s Tameny claim was entitled to Armendariz protections,
I would support a remand to allow Little to make the requisite showing.
I would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal insofar as it permits
enforcement of a clause allowing arbitral review only of awards greater than
$50,000, and would affirm the Court of Appeal’s judgment in all other respects. If
I agreed with the majority that Armendariz protections apply to Tameny claims—
which I do not—I would additionally reverse the Court of Appeal’s judgment
insofar as it requires Little to arbitrate this claim without allowing him to
demonstrate that pro rata sharing of forum costs would make arbitration
6
prohibitively expensive for him, and I would remand to the Court of Appeal with
directions to instruct the trial court to conduct further proceedings consistent with
the views expressed in this opinion.
BAXTER, J.
WE CONCUR:
CHIN, J.
BROWN, J.
7
CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION BY BROWN, J.
Like the majority, I find the appellate arbitration provision in the arbitration
agreement unconscionable. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 2.) I also agree that this
“provision should be severed and the rest of the arbitration agreement enforced.”
(Ibid.) I, however, disagree with the majority’s application of the requirements set
forth in Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24
Cal.4th 83 (Armendariz) to an action alleging wrongful termination in violation of
public policy (Tameny claim) (see Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27
Cal.3d 167, 178).1 Unlike the majority, I found Brown v. Wheat First Securities,
Inc. (2001) 257 F.3d 821 (Brown) persuasive and would not apply Armendariz to
Tameny claims.
“In Armendariz, we held that arbitration of claims under the [California
Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.)] is
subject to certain minimal requirements . . . .” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 12.) We
imposed these requirements despite the preemptive scope of the Federal
Arbitration Act (FAA) (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) based on “[t]he United States
Supreme Court’s dictum that a party, in agreeing to arbitrate a statutory claim,
1
For the reasons stated in Justice Baxter’s concurring and dissenting
opinion, ante, I also disagree with the majority’s refusal to modify Armendariz’s
cost requirements in light of Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Randolph (2000) 531
U.S. 79.
1
‘does not forgo the substantive rights afforded by the statute [but] only submits to
their resolution in an arbitral . . . forum.’ ” (Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p.
99, quoting Mitsubishi Motors v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth (1985) 473 U.S. 614,
628 (Mitsubishi).) Because the Legislature enacted FEHA with the express
intention of safeguarding certain rights for the benefit of the public at large, we
concluded that neither federal nor state arbitration laws preclude our imposition of
restrictions on the arbitration of FEHA claims. (See Armendariz, supra, 24
Cal.4th at pp. 100-101.) In doing so, we carefully limited our holding to
arbitrations of statutory claims.
Our heavy reliance on Cole v. Burns Intern. Security Services (D.C. Cir.
1997) 105 F.3d 1465 (Cole) demonstrates the limited scope of our holding in
Armendariz. (See Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at pp. 101-102.) In Cole, the
District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals imposed the same requirements we
imposed in Armendariz (Cole/Armendariz requirements) to the arbitration of
claims under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). (Cole, supra,
105 F.3d at p. 1482.) It imposed these requirements because of the importance of
respecting congressional intent as expressed in “public statutes like the [Age
Employment in Discrimination Act] and Title VII.” (Cole, at p. 1482.)
Ascertaining the unwaivability of the rights conferred by these public statutes
from their text, history, and purpose and citing this unwaivability as evidence of
congressional intent, the court found that Congress intended to provide certain
procedural protections to employees seeking to vindicate these rights. (Ibid.)
Thus, Cole did not impose additional requirements on the arbitration of these
statutory claims based solely on their unwaivability or public policy concerns.
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals made this expressly
clear in Brown. In Brown, the court refused to impose the Cole/Armendariz
requirements on the arbitration of a common law claim virtually identical to the
2
Tameny claim at issue here. (Brown, supra, 257 F.3d at p. 825.) As the court
explained, Cole was limited “at vital points to statutory rights” (Brown, at p. 825),
and “our central rationale—respecting congressional intent—does not extend
beyond the statutory context” (ibid.). The court further noted that the FAA
preempts “state restrictions on the enforcement of arbitration agreements” and
necessarily precludes courts from restricting the arbitration of common law
claims. (Brown, at p. 826.) Finally, the court observed that the creation of
judicially crafted public policy exceptions to the FAA would, as a practical matter,
subject the arbitration of most, if not all, tort and contract claims to the
Cole/Armendariz requirements. (Ibid.)
Notwithstanding the majority’s arguments to the contrary, I believe Brown
should guide our decision here. As explained above, we carefully limited the
application of Armendariz to statutory rights. (See ante, at pp. 1-2.) And our
rationale for imposing the Cole/Armendariz requirements on the arbitration of
FEHA claims—respecting legislative intent—does not extend beyond the statutory
context. (See ibid.)
Indeed, we are precluded from doing so by both Congress and our own
Legislature. Congress enacted the FAA “ ‘to assure those who desired arbitration
and whose contracts related to interstate commerce that their expectations would
not be undermined . . . by state courts . . . .’ ” (Southland Corp. v. Keating (1984)
465 U.S. 1, 13.) Recognizing “the widespread unwillingness of state courts to
enforce arbitration agreements” (ibid.), Congress intended the FAA “to be a broad
enactment appropriate in scope to meet the large problems Congress was
addressing” (465 U.S. at p. 14)—i.e., judicial hostility to arbitration—and
“unencumbered by state law constraints” (id. at p. 13). As such, the FAA
preempts all state laws and rules disfavoring arbitration. (See Allied-Bruce
Terminix Cos. v. Dobson (1995) 513 U.S. 265, 272.)
3
Of course, Congress is free to circumscribe the scope of its enactments.
(Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon (1987) 482 U.S. 220, 226.)
Consistent with this principle, the United States Supreme Court has recognized
that the FAA does not govern if “ ‘Congress itself has evinced an intention to
preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for the statutory rights at issue.’ ” (Gilmer
v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. (1991) 500 U.S. 20, 26 (Gilmer), quoting
Mitsubishi, supra, 473 U.S. at p. 628.) Such an intention may, however, be
discerned only from “the text [of a federal statute], its legislative history, or an
‘inherent conflict’ between arbitration and” that statute’s underlying purposes.
(Gilmer, supra, 500 U.S. at p. 26, quoting McMahon, supra, 482 U.S. at p. 227.)
Thus, in the absence of a statute evidencing a clear congressional intent to restrict
arbitration, the FAA controls and precludes courts from imposing their own
arbitration-specific restrictions.2 (See Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton,
Inc. (1995) 514 U.S. 52, 55, 58 (Mastrobuono) [holding that the FAA precludes
the enforcement of a judicially created rule despite its basis in public policy]; see
also McMahon, supra, 482 U.S. at p. 227 [to defeat application of the FAA, the
parties opposing arbitration “must demonstrate that Congress intended to make an
exception to the [FAA] for claims arising under” statute, “an intention discernible
from the text, history, or purposes of the statute”].)
2
We have extended this rationale of Gilmer to state legislative enactments
and restricted the arbitration of certain statutory causes of action serving a
transcendent public purpose as determined by a state legislature. (See Broughton
v. Cigna Healthplans (1999) 21 Cal.4th 1066, 1083 (Broughton).) While I
reluctantly concede that Broughton is binding until the United States Supreme
Court decides otherwise (but see Broughton, supra, 1066, 1088-1103 (dis. opn. of
Chin, J.)), neither this court nor the United States Supreme Court has ever
suggested that a federal or state court may, on its own initiative, restrict the
arbitration of a common law cause of action.
4
Similarly, California’s arbitration scheme precludes California courts from
restricting arbitrations in the absence of an express legislative intent to do so.
“Title 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure . . . represents a comprehensive statutory
scheme regulating private arbitration in this state.” (Moncharsh v. Heily & Blase
(1992) 3 Cal.4th 1, 9.) This scheme establishes “that arbitration agreements will
be enforced in accordance with their terms.” (Vandenberg v. Superior Court
(1999) 21 Cal.4th 815, 836, fn. 10.) Absent certain statutorily enumerated
grounds not relevant here (see Code Civ. Proc., § 1281.2), courts must enforce an
arbitration agreement as written. While the Legislature may create exceptions to
this strong statutory policy in favor of arbitration and selectively limit arbitrations,
we may not. (See Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 98 [recognizing that the
Legislature may “selectively prohibit[] arbitration in certain areas”].)
Nonetheless, the majority does just that. A Tameny claim is a common law
cause of action created by this court—and not by the Legislature. (See Green v.
Ralee Engineering Co. (1998) 19 Cal.4th 66, 71 (Green) [“Although our
Legislature has determined that an employment contract is generally terminable at
either party’s will . . . , we have created a narrow exception to this rule by
recognizing that an employer’s right to discharge an at-will employee is subject to
limits that fundamental public policy imposes.” (Italics added, fn. omitted.)].)
Thus, Tameny claims are a judicial—and not a legislative—construct, and the
public policy underlying these claims “is inconsequential as a measure of [the
Legislature’s] interest in the stated policy.” (Brown, supra, 257 F.3d at p. 826.)
As a result, the majority’s extension of Armendariz violates the FAA and our own
statutory arbitration scheme.
The statutes the majority cites to establish the unwaivability of Tameny
claims are inapposite. Civil Code section 3513, by its terms, applies only to laws
enacted by the Legislature. Meanwhile, Civil Code section 1668 merely declares
5
that contracts that “directly or indirectly . . . exempt anyone from responsibility for
his own fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of
law, whether willful or negligent, are against” public policy. An arbitration
agreement does not, however, exempt anyone from responsibility for his or her
wrongdoing. Rather, the agreement merely changes the forum in which the
determination of responsibility is made. (See Gilmer, supra, 500 U.S. at p. 26
[parties compelled to arbitrate their claims merely “ ‘submit[] to their resolution in
an arbitral, rather than a judicial, forum’ ”].) Thus, Civil Code section 1668 does
not evince a legislative intent to impose any restrictions on the arbitration of
Tameny claims.
In any event, the majority’s focus on the unwaivability of Tameny claims is
misplaced. To evade FAA preemption, the majority purports to apply a generally
applicable contract defense by “refusing to enforce a contractual term . . . that . . .
would force a party to forgo unwaivable public rights . . . .” (Maj. opn., ante, at p.
16.) Thus, the majority sees “no reason under Armendariz’s logic to distinguish
between unwaivable statutory rights and unwaivable rights derived from common
law.” (Id. at p. 17.) The majority’s logic, however, is specious. The majority
finds an agreement to arbitrate Tameny claims violative of public policy absent
satisfaction of the Cole/Armendariz requirements solely because of alleged
deficiencies unique to an arbitral forum established by an otherwise valid
agreement. In doing so, the majority necessarily premises its holding on plaintiff’s
purported inability to vindicate his common law claim in the arbitral forum and
creates a rule specific to arbitration agreements. As such, the majority’s holding
rests on a “suspicion of arbitration as a method of weakening the protections
afforded in the substantive law to would-be complainants” rejected long ago.
(Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/Am. Exp. (1989) 490 U.S. 477, 481.) This is
true regardless of whether the claim is waivable or not.
6
Thus, the unwaivability of Tameny claims is a red herring. The crucial
question is whether there is any evidence of a congressional (see Gilmer, supra,
500 U.S. at p. 26) or legislative intent (see Broughton, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p.
1083) to place restrictions on the arbitration of Tameny claims. While the
unwaivability of a statutory right established by the statute’s text, history, or
purpose may evidence such an intent (see Cole, supra, 105 F.3d at p. 1482;
Armendariz, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 100), a judicial finding of unwaivability for
public policy reasons cannot. Indeed, the public policy exception the majority
adopts subjects most, if not all, tort claims to the Cole/Armendariz requirements.
“All claims not based on contract—including, for example, . . . defamation and
tortious interference claims . . . —implement values that society has in one way or
another thought deserving.” (Brown, supra, 257 F.3d at p. 826.) Under this public
policy rationale, “it is hard to see what falls outside it.” (Ibid.) For example,
under the majority’s logic, any arbitration of an intentional tort claim must abide
by the Cole/Armendariz requirements because such claims are unwaivable under
Civil Code section 1668.
In this respect, this case is no different from Mastrobuono. In
Mastrobuono, the United States Supreme Court held that the FAA preempted a
judicially created rule prohibiting arbitrators from awarding punitive damages
even though a state court created the rule for public policy reasons.
(Mastrobuono, supra, 514 U.S. at pp. 55, 58.) The same reasoning precludes our
application of the judicially created Cole/Armendariz requirements to the
arbitration of Tameny claims. By creating a rule applicable only to arbitration
provisions, the majority necessarily violates the FAA. (See Doctor’s Associates,
Inc. v. Casarotto (1996) 517 U.S. 681, 687 [“Courts may not, however, invalidate
arbitration agreements under state laws applicable only to arbitration provisions”].)
7
Our extension of Armendariz to Tameny claims therefore usurps Congress’s
authority to establish “the supreme law of the land” (U.S. Const., art. VI, cl. 2) and
the Legislature’s “responsibility to declare the public policy of the state” (Green,
supra, 19 Cal.4th at p. 71). Moreover, by imposing arbitration-specific restrictions
that have no congressional or legislative basis, the majority not only undermines
the “liberal federal policy favoring arbitration” (Moses H. Cone Hospital v.
Mercury Constr. Corp. (1983) 460 U.S. 1, 24), but also contravenes California’s
“strong public policy in favor of arbitration as a speedy and relatively inexpensive
means of dispute resolution” (Ericksen, Arbuthnot, McCarthy, Kearney & Walsh,
Inc. v. 100 Oak Street (1983) 35 Cal.3d 312, 322). Even if Tameny claims cannot
be effectively vindicated absent imposition of the Cole/Armendariz requirements,
both Congress and our Legislature have declined to impose them. By disregarding
their intentions, the majority appears intent on turning “the judicial clock
backwards to an era of hostility toward arbitration.” (Madden v. Kaiser
Foundation Hospitals (1976) 17 Cal.3d 699, 714.) Indeed, this court appears to be
“chip[ping] away at” United States Supreme Court precedents broadly construing
the scope of the FAA “by indirection,” despite the high court’s admonition against
doing so. (Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams (2001) 532 U.S. 105, 122.) I
therefore urge the high court to clarify once and for all whether our approach to
arbitration law comports with its precedents.
BROWN, J.
WE CONCUR:
BAXTER,
J.
CHIN,
J.
8
See next page for addresses and telephone numbers for counsel who argued in Supreme Court. Name of Opinion Little v. Auto Stiegler, Inc.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Unpublished Opinion
Original Appeal
Original Proceeding
Review Granted
Rehearing Granted
__________________________________________________________________________________
Opinion No.
S101435Date Filed: February 27, 2003
__________________________________________________________________________________
Court:
SuperiorCounty: Los Angeles
Judge: S. Patricia Spear
__________________________________________________________________________________
Attorneys for Appellant:
Fisher & Phillips, Christopher C. Hoffman and Jeffrey R. Thurrell for Defendant and Appellant.Fine, Boggs, Cope & Perkins, Ned A. Fine, John P. Boggs and Michael K. Perkins for California Motorcar
Dealers Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant.
Winston & Strawn and Lee T. Paterson for The Employers Group as Amicus Curiae on behalf of
Defendant and Appellant.
Stephens & Vrevich, Darin L. Wessel and Maxie Rheinheimer as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and
Appellant.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Attorneys for Respondent:
Moskowitz, Brestoff, Winston & Blinderman, Nelson E. Brestoff and Dennis A. Winston for Plaintiff andRespondent.
McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky, Cliff M. Palefsky, Keith Ehrman; Pine & Pine and Norman Pine for
California Employment Lawyers Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent.
1
Counsel who argued in Supreme Court (not intended for publication with opinion):
Christopher C. HoffmanFisher & Phillips
18400 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 400
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 851-2424
Nelson E. Brestoff
Moskowitz, Brestoff, Winston & Blinderman
1880 Century Park East, Suite 350
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 785-0550
Cliff M. Palefsky
McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky
535 Pacific Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 421-9292
2
Date: | Docket Number: |
Thu, 02/27/2003 | S101435 |
1 | Little, Alexander M. (Plaintiff and Respondent) Represented by Nelson Brestoff MOSKOWITZ, BRESTOFF ET AL. 1880 Century Park East Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA |
2 | Auto Stiegler, Inc. (Defendant and Appellant) Represented by Christopher Charles Hoffman Fisher & Phillips 18400 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 400 Irvine, CA |
3 | California Employment Lawyers Association (Pub/Depublication Requestor) Represented by Cliff Palefsky Mcguinn, Hillsman & Palefsky 535 Pacific Avenue San Francisco, CA |
4 | California Employment Lawyers Association (Pub/Depublication Requestor) Represented by Norman Pine Pine & Pine 14156 Magnolia Blvd., Suite #200 Sherman Oaks, CA |
5 | California Motorcar Dealers Association (Amicus curiae) Represented by John P. Boggs Fine, Boggs, Cope & Perkins 2450 S. Cabrillo Highway, Suite 100 Half Moon Bay, CA |
6 | Employers Group (Amicus curiae) Represented by Lee T. Paterson Winston & Strawn 333 S Grand Avenue, Suite 3800 Los Angeles, CA |
7 | Maxie Rheinheimer Stephens & Vrevich (Amicus curiae) Represented by Darin Lee Wessel Maxie Rheinheimer 555 W 5th Street, 31st Floor Los Angeles, CA |
8 | Consumer Attorneys Of California (Amicus curiae) Represented by Mark Thomas Johnson The Sturdevant Law Firm 475 Sansome Street, Suite 1750 San Francisco, CA |
9 | Consumer Attorneys Of California (Amicus curiae) Represented by James C. Sturdevant The Sturdevant Law Firm 475 Sansome Street, Suite 1750 San Francisco, CA |
Disposition | |
Apr 15 2002 | Order vacated (case closed) |
Dockets | |
Oct 17 2001 | Received premature petition for review by Respondent Alexander M. Little. $200 filing fee being sent by FedExpress overnight |
Oct 18 2001 | Case start: Petition for review filed |
Oct 18 2001 | Record requested |
Oct 23 2001 | Request for Depublication (petition/rev. pending) By counsel for The California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) |
Oct 25 2001 | Received Court of Appeal record 1 doghouse |
Nov 5 2001 | Answer to petition for review filed appellant Auto Stiegler, Inc. |
Dec 10 2001 | Time extended to grant or deny review to and including January 16, 2002 |
Dec 19 2001 | Petition for Review Granted (civil case) Votes: George C.J., Kennard, Baxter, Werdegar, Chin, Brown & Moreno JJ. |
Dec 19 2001 | Letter sent to: parties regarding certification of interested entities or persons. |
Jan 2 2002 | Certification of interested entities or persons filed by appellant Auto Stiegler, Inc. |
Jan 2 2002 | Certification of interested entities or persons filed By counsel for Respondent (Alexander Little} |
Jan 17 2002 | Opening brief on the merits filed By counsel for Respondent {Alexander M. Little} |
Feb 19 2002 | Answer brief on the merits filed appellant Auto Stiegler, Inc. |
Mar 5 2002 | Reply brief filed (case fully briefed) by cousel for respondent Alexander M. Little |
Apr 2 2002 | Received application to file amicus curiae brief; with brief Of California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) in support of Respondent {Alexander M. Little}. |
Apr 2 2002 | Received: Application of Consumer Attorneys of California to join in the AC brief of California Employment Lawyers Association in support of respondent. |
Apr 4 2002 | Received application to file Amicus Curiae Brief Of California Motorcar Dealers Assn. in support of appellant. |
Apr 4 2002 | Received application to file amicus curiae brief; with brief Maxie Rheinheimer Stephens & Vrevich, LLP [in support of appellant-Auto Stiegler] |
Apr 5 2002 | Permission to file amicus curiae brief granted California Motorcar Dealers Association in support of Appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.}. Answer is due within twenty days. |
Apr 5 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: California Motorcar Dealers Association in support of Appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.}. Answer is due within twenty days. |
Apr 8 2002 | Received application to file amicus curiae brief; with brief of Employers Group to file in support of respondent Auto Stiegler, Inc., submitted concurrent w/brief is *Declaration of Lee T. Paterson*. |
Apr 11 2002 | Permission to file amicus curiae brief granted of Maxie Rheinheimer Stephens & Vrevich in support of appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.} Answer is due within twenty days. |
Apr 11 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: Maxie Reinheimer Stephens & Vrevich in support of appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.} Answer is due within twenty days. |
Apr 11 2002 | Permission to file amicus curiae brief granted The Employers Group in support of appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.}. |
Apr 11 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: The Employers Group in support of appellant {Auto Stiegler Inc.} Answer is due within twenty days. |
Apr 15 2002 | Permission to file amicus curiae brief granted California Employment Lawyers Association in support of respondent. Answer by any party may be served and filed within twenty (20) days of the filing of the brief. |
Apr 15 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: California Employment Lawyers Association in support of respondent. |
Apr 15 2002 | Order filed The application of Consumer Attorneys of California for permission to join in the amicus curiae brief filed by the California Employment Lawyers Association in support of respondent is granted. |
Apr 25 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed By Respondent {Alexander M. Little} to AC Brief of California Motorcar Dealers Association. |
Apr 29 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed By respondent {Alexander Little} to AC brief of Maxie Rheinheimer Stephens & Vrevich. |
Apr 29 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed By respondent {Alexander Little} to AC brief of The Employers Group. |
May 1 2002 | Change of Address filed for: amicus Maxie Rheinheimer [record updated] |
May 6 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed by counsel for resp (Auto Stiegler, Inc.) in response of a/c brief of California Employment Lawyers Assoc. |
Aug 14 2002 | Order filed The issues to be briefed and argued in this court shall include whether unconscionable provisions in arbitration agreements should invalidate the entire arbitration agreement if it can be demonstrated that the provision was included in bad faith (see Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 83, 124-125, fn. 13), and, if so, whether any of the provisions in the present agreement were included in bad faith. The parties shall submit supplemental briefs filed simultaneously no later than August 30, 2002. Each side may file a reply to the supplemental brief of the other no later than September 9, 2002. |
Aug 30 2002 | Supplemental brief filed By counsel for respondent {Alexander M. Little}. |
Aug 30 2002 | Supplemental brief filed by counsel for appellant Auto Stiegler, Inc. shipped o/n to sf |
Aug 30 2002 | Filed: appellant's notice of lodgment re additional authorities shipped o/n to sf |
Sep 5 2002 | Supplemental reply brief filed By counsel for Respondent {Alexander M. Little}. |
Sep 9 2002 | Supplemental reply brief filed apellant Auto Stiegler, Inc. |
Oct 31 2002 | Case ordered on calendar 12-4-02, 9am, L.A. |
Nov 18 2002 | Filed: Resp's request to allocate oral argument time to A/C |
Nov 21 2002 | Change of Address filed for: Nelson E. Brestoff -- counsel for resp Alexander M. Little (change was for suite # only) |
Dec 2 2002 | Order filed Permission granted for two counsel to argue on behalf of resp. |
Dec 2 2002 | Order filed permission granted for resp to allocate 10 min. oral argument time to A/C Calif. Employment Lawyers Assn. |
Dec 4 2002 | Cause argued and submitted |
Feb 27 2003 | Opinion filed: Affirmed in part, reversed in part The judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed insofar as it (1) permits enforcement of a clause allowing arbitral review only of awards greater than $50,000 and (2) requires arbitration of Little's Tameny claim, assuming he has adequately alleged such a claim, without requiring Auto Stiegler to pay arbitration forum costs as set forth in Armendariz. The cause is remanded to the Court of Appeal with instructions to direct the superior court to conduct further proceedings consistent with the views expressed in this opinion. In all other respects, the Court of Appeal's judgment is affirmed. Majority Opinion by Moreno, J. ------Joined by George, CJ., Kennard and Werdegar, JJ. Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Baxter, J. ------Joined by Chin and Brown, JJ. Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Brown, J. ------Joined by Baxter and Chin, JJ. |
Apr 21 2003 | Remittitur issued (civil case) |
Apr 28 2003 | Received: Receipt for remittitur from 2 DCA Div. Five. |
Briefs | |
Jan 17 2002 | Opening brief on the merits filed |
Feb 19 2002 | Answer brief on the merits filed |
Mar 5 2002 | Reply brief filed (case fully briefed) |
Apr 5 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: |
Apr 11 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: |
Apr 11 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: |
Apr 15 2002 | Amicus Curiae Brief filed by: |
Apr 25 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed |
Apr 29 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed |
Apr 29 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed |
May 6 2002 | Response to amicus curiae brief filed |