Business is hailing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in AMEX III as the panacea for the failure of state courts to enforce certain arbitration agreements on the ground that they are unconscionable, but what effect will this have on the California Supreme Court?

In the last six months, California courts have drastically limited an employer’s ability to utilize a piece-rate system to pay its employees.  Important court rulings have made it clear that each “hour worked,” as defined by the Labor Code, must be compensated and itemized if employers intend to exert any type of control, issue any directive, or place any requirement on their employees during non-piece-rate times.

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, Judge Jed Beebe in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court denied Arturo Martinez’s motion for class certification against Santa Maria Ford for alleged DMV fee lumping violations under the Automobile Sales Finance Act (ASFA) and the Unfair Competition Law (UCL).

The National Association of Dealer Councel (NADC) featured the article Enforcing arbitration agreements: Unconscionability is still the battleground, but for how long?, by Christian Scali, in their June 2013 issue of Defender. In it he reviews the current state of laws governing pre-dispute arbitration agreements in California.

In the September 2013 edition of News Trax—published by the Auto Dealers Office Management Association (ADOMA)—you will find Christian Scali's article, titled Is your Red Flags Program up to date? In it he discusses the FTC's revised business guide on the Red Flags Identity Theft Rule, issued on June 12, 2013.

As those who read this blog regularly already know, courts have divided into two camps over the enforceability of contractual arbitration agreements. Both camps claim to have the same starting point: the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) public policy favoring arbitration, under which parties who contractually agree to arbitrate a dispute are absolutely bound to do so unless the agreement is clearly “unconscionable;” i.e., so unreasonable that it shocks the conscience.