James Tysse Discusses Supreme Court’s Arbitration Rulings

James Tysse, counsel in Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, is quoted in the Law360 article “High Court Still Not Done With Pro-Arbitration Campaign,” which looks at major arbitration decisions from the Supreme Court Term that ended last month.

The article notes that the Court built off its 2011 Concepcion decision, which held that state laws invalidating class arbitration waivers are preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, and established that arbitration waivers can also quash claims brought under federal law. Tysse says the Court’s recent decisions are a sign of “a larger shift toward allowing companies to choose their preferred methods of dispute resolution, at the expense of class procedures of all types.”

Class arbitration could become a thing of the past for some companies, adds Tysse: “Companies presumably will continue to push the limits in devising procedures that restrict dispute resolution to limited, bilateral arbitration.”