Desk
33 pieces from this desk.
A Jacksonville federal judge has vacated in full the $48 million arbitration award that drug-discount marketer United Networks of America won against OptumRx, finding UNA's claimed acquisition of a rival's business was "a lie." Fraud vacatur under the FAA is rare, and the order shows what it takes.
Courts Desk · 13 min
On October 1, 2026 the Supreme Court asked 401(k) participant Cathy Pover to answer Capital Group's petition. The Capital Group ERISA arbitration fight now turns on whether plan-wide relief survives, the premise behind eight circuits' refusals to enforce plan arbitration clauses.
Courts Desk · 15 min
A Manhattan federal judge has refused to send the MLB Ballpark app lawsuit over vanished tickets to arbitration, finding MLB Advanced Media failed to prove fans agreed to its arbitration terms. Six months after MLB beat 5,628 mass-arbitration claimants on the same issue, assent has now cut against it.
Courts Desk · 12 min
In Diaz-Roa v. Hermes Law, the Second Circuit EFAA ruling of September 30, 2026 holds that a plaintiff who invokes the EFAA can void an arbitration agreement for the whole lawsuit, wage and contract claims included. Two circuits now agree, which leaves no split to send to the Supreme Court.
Courts Desk · 14 min
In a T-Mobile price lock arbitration win, a Seattle federal judge ruled September 29 that customers suing over broken rate promises must arbitrate one by one, having accepted updated terms by continuing to pay after notice. The fight moves to the AAA, where a 25-claimant batching clause awaits.
Courts Desk · 17 min
AppLovin filed a JAMS demand against Unity on 27 September 2026 and, a day later, asked San Francisco Superior Court for a provisional remedy under CCP § 1281.8(b) to stop Unity's Ad Quality SDK from collecting its ad data while the arbitration runs.
Courts Desk · 16 min
A Los Angeles federal judge has refused to vacate the JPMorgan deli platter arbitration award, leaving ex-broker Brent Bodner's $4.25 million FINRA win in place. The court called JPMorgan's objections serious but held that an unexplained award that is merely wrong still stands.
Courts Desk · 15 min
A Philadelphia federal judge has refused to send a minor's video game addiction lawsuit to arbitration, holding that the teen rejected the Roblox clause delegating contract-formation questions to an arbitrator. Four months earlier, the same judge compelled a similar case.
Courts Desk · 14 min
Google filed its notice of appeal on 21 September 2026, taking the $425.7 million Web & App Activity verdict for 98 million users to the Ninth Circuit after Chief Judge Seeborg refused to set it aside and awarded class counsel $146.8 million. No class member is paid until the appeal ends.
Courts Desk · 13 min
In the Valve Steam arbitration appeal, the Ninth Circuit will decide whether Valve could rewrite Steam's terms to pull 358 users out of pending arbitrations, while six users challenge orders refusing to confirm their awards. The ruling will shape how companies exit arbitration.
Courts Desk · 16 min
On September 25, 2026, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the denial of Baker Tilly's motion to compel arbitration, holding that engagement-letter arbitration clauses did not reach tax work the letters excluded and that the parties handled on unwritten terms.
Courts Desk · 13 min
A Georgia federal court stayed Hicks v. Waffle House on 25 September 2026 until it rules on the company's motion to compel arbitration of a nationwide ERISA class claim over a $92-a-month tobacco surcharge. The arbitration gate, not the merits, is now the decisive question in a 50-case wave.
Courts Desk · 12 min
New York's Appellate Division, Second Department held on 23 September 2026 that the EFAA defeats a motion to compel arbitration of an EFAA arbitration negligence claim against a sorority nobody accuses of the assault. The test is a logical connection, not fault.
Courts Desk · 15 min
A Los Angeles judge refused on 24 September 2026 to vacate the Eric Schmidt arbitration award that ordered Michelle Ritter to pay $10.7 million for falsely accusing him of rape. The clause that sent the case to arbitration was signed in December 2024 — after the dispute had arisen — so the EFAA never applied.
Courts Desk · 17 min
A Santa Fe jury found on 25 September 2026 that Facebook willfully violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act roughly 43.9 million times. At $5,000 a violation, the arithmetic reaches $219.5 billion - and Judge Francis Mathew, not the jury, decides what Meta pays.
Courts Desk · 14 min
On 25 September 2026 a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel held that Kalshi's sports event contracts are not 'swaps,' so the CFTC has no exclusive jurisdiction over them and Ohio and Tennessee may enforce their gambling laws. The ruling deepens a three-way circuit split and unlocks a wave of private claims.
Courts Desk · 16 min
In Geller v. Uber Technologies, decided 24 September 2026, a unanimous Illinois Supreme Court held that a widow's own Uber terms of use - delegation clause and all - cannot pull her wrongful death claims arising from her husband's ride into arbitration.
Courts Desk · 12 min
Judge Jed S. Rakoff held that a ticket buyer accepted StubHub's individual-arbitration terms when he clicked 'Buy Now'. Plaintiffs' counsel answered within days that the same buyers will now arrive one at a time, in what he called a contemplated mass arbitration.
Courts Desk · 12 min
In Joyner v. Frontier Airlines, decided 1 September 2026 and now the subject of a wave of practitioner analysis, the Tenth Circuit held that a district court defined the FAA Section 1 class of workers too narrowly by asking what three named plaintiffs actually did rather than what their class typically does.
Courts Desk · 12 min
Judge Vince Chhabria hears Sony's PlayStation motion to compel arbitration on 1 October 2026 in Heycock v. Sony, No. 3:26-cv-06016. Briefing closed 11 September. Section 14 of the PlayStation terms names the AAA, waives class actions — and collapses entirely if that waiver falls.
Courts Desk · 17 min
Roblox and Discord are due to move to compel arbitration on 22 September 2026 across more than 160 child exploitation actions in MDL No. 3166. A 2022 statute, and the date a child was harmed, will decide most of it.
Courts Desk · 15 min
The Judicial Panel hears argument in Chicago on 24 September 2026 on the first tariff refund MDL petition. Roughly 100 consumer suits are pending across about 30 federal districts, and the defense with the best chance of disposing of most of them is not a merits defense at all.
Courts Desk · 17 min
In 24 hours the Sixth Circuit reversed the remand of Kentucky's pharmacy benefit manager opioid suit and took delivery of Judge Dan Polster's answer to a mandamus petition that would strip roughly 800 amended complaints out of MDL 2804. The forum fight and the aggregation fight are now in the same courthouse.
Courts Desk · 12 min
On 4 September 2026 Magistrate Judge Lara K. Eshkenazi barred Public Partnerships, LLC from distributing a dispute resolution agreement with a class action waiver to roughly 200,000 settlement class members before final approval of a $162 million wage settlement. Opt-outs close 19 September.
Courts Desk · 12 min
Two new appellate fronts opened this summer, and neither one is about whether the protocol is unconscionable. The Second Circuit is being asked whether the FAA reaches the dispute at all; the Nevada Supreme Court, whether there is an agreement to enforce.
Courts Desk · 21 min
A litigation funder tried to compel arbitration against the German claims vehicle it financed, from inside a discovery docket. The Third Circuit held that no court had jurisdiction to hear the motion. On 28 September the Justices decide what to do about it.
Courts Desk · 17 min
Judge Rakoff sent the StubHub self-dealing class action to arbitration on 14 September 2026 and stayed the case rather than dismissing it. The StubHub arbitration ruling removes the class device without removing a single claim.
Courts Desk · 13 min
The Ninth Circuit struck down a bespoke mass arbitration regime root and branch, including its delegation clause. Certiorari was denied in October 2025. Every protocol drafted since has been written in that decision's shadow.
Courts Desk · 3 min
Twenty-five coordinated claims per round. Aggressive resolution targets. A tolling provision the drafter could contest. The Northern District of California found the combination unconscionable — and gave every clause reviewer a checklist.
Courts Desk · 3 min
Thirty-five thousand claimants, a $4.1 million invoice, and a respondent that declined to pay. The Seventh Circuit held a district court could not order it to — a ruling whose reach depends entirely on the words a clause uses to incorporate provider rules.
Courts Desk · 3 min
Twenty-five claimants trigger the protocol; ten claims move at a time; nothing sets an outer limit and nothing tolls the clock. A New Jersey appellate court declined to sever, and struck the agreement in its entirety.
Courts Desk · 3 min
Keller Postman began filing advertiser demands against Google in April 2026, built on the 2024 monopolisation rulings and an economist's overcharge model running to $218 billion. The claimants are not consumers with negative-value claims. They are businesses, and Google's own arbitration clause is what routes them there.
Courts Desk · 3 min
Two sweepstakes casino operators sued the firms that had built mass arbitration campaigns against them for malicious prosecution. On 31 March 2026, Justice Phaedra F. Perry-Bond dismissed every claim under New York's anti-SLAPP statute — and made the fee award mandatory.
Courts Desk · 3 min