South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
An entire award to a farmer who argued that his insurance company breached a contract was vacated because the arbitrator exceeded her authority by awarding extra-contractual damages, which can only be awarded by a court; and although her decision included ...
Read More »Arbitration – Arbitrator ignored contract terms
Arbitration – Agreement was insurance contract, arbitration clause void 
Having determined that the policies at issue constituted an insurance contract under Virginia law, the court said a private day school was not required to submit its dispute to arbitration because the agreement containing the arbitration clause is part of ...
Read More »Arbitration – Labor & Employment – Multiple Agreements – Interstate Commerce
On the same day, plaintiff signed the defendant-employer’s dispute resolution agreement (DRA), its “Binding Arbitration Agreement, and its employee handbook, all of which contain arbitration provisions. This evidences a clear intent to agree to arbitrate any future dispute. The court ...
Tagged with: Labor and Employment
Read More »Arbitration – Labor & Employment – Interstate Commerce – Statutory Claims
Even if plaintiff never treated a patient from outside South Carolina, she does not refute the defendant-employer’s other arguments which show that the parties’ employment contract involved interstate commerce, e.g., 95 percent of approximately 400 shipments of equipment and supplies ...
Tagged with: Labor and Employment
Read More »Arbitration – Clickwrap/Browsewrap – Sufficient Notice – Hotel Taxes – Breach of Contract
Contrary to plaintiff’s argument, a customer on defendant’s website is indeed required to accept defendant’s “Terms of Service” as part of making a hotel reservation. In any event, defendant used an enforceable hybrid between a clickwrap and a browsewrap: by ...
Tagged with: Hotel Taxes
Read More »Arbitration – Nursing Home – Admission Documents – Husband’s Signature – Separate Contracts
Holding: Where a patient was competent and had not executed a power of attorney, her estate is not bound by her husband’s signature on an arbitration agreement, which agreement was separate from the admission agreement the husband signed for the ...
Tagged with: Admission Documents
Read More »Arbitration – Decision reserving judgment was not “final”
Holding: A written decision resulting from the parties’ agreed-upon dispute-resolution process was not a “final” decision under the Federal Arbitration Act because it reserved the decision-maker’s right – without time limitation – to change the decision if its underlying assumptions proved ...
Tagged with: final
Read More »Arbitration – Labor & Employment – Adhesion Contract – Not Unconscionable
Hamlin v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-212-17, 6 pp.) (Patrick Michael Duffy, J.) 2:17-cv-02648; D.S.C. Holding: Although defendant drafted the employment agreement and plaintiff had no meaningful bargaining power, since both parties will have input into the ...
Tagged with: Labor and Employment
Read More »Arbitration – Arbitrability – JAMS Rules – Arbitrator’s Decision – First Impression
Simply Wireless, Inc. v. T-Mobile US, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-218-17, 22 pp.) (James Wynn Jr., J.) (Henry Floyd, J., dissenting) 16-1123; Dec. 13, 2017; USDC at Alexandria, Va. (Claude Hilton, S.J.) 4th Cir. Holding: Where the arbitration clause of the parties’ contract ...
Tagged with: JAMS Rule
Read More »Arbitration – Construction Subcontract – General Contractor’s Insurer – Subrogation Claim
Steadfast Insurance Co. v. Palmetto Civil Group, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-208-17, 5 pp.) (Patrick Michael Duffy, J.) 2:17-cv-01119; D.S.C. Holding: Where (1) the plaintiff-insurer paid the claims of its insured general contractor, (2) those claims arose out of the ...
Tagged with: Subrogation
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