Horvitz & Levy partners Peder Batalden and Felix Shafir have a column in the Daily Journal, “PAGA returns to the US Supreme Court.” They write that the California Supreme Court’s decision in Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (2023) 14 Cal.5th 1104 (see here and here) is the latest instance of “California courts continu[ing] to resist the U.S. Supreme Court’s federal arbitration precedent.”

They also say, “Time and again, the U.S. Supreme Court has applied the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to rebuff the[ ] serial efforts [of California’s Legislature and courts] to interfere with arbitration contracts,” and they discuss two pending certiorari petitions — Uber Technologies v. Gregg and Lyft v. Seifu — that give the high court new rebuffing opportunities. (Horvitz & Levy filed the Seifu cert petition.) Gregg and Seifu were Adolph grant-and-holds in California’s Supreme Court (see here) and, after Adolph, the court dismissed review in both (see here), leaving in place Court of Appeal decisions consistent with Adolph.

Meanwhile, Justice Goodwin Liu, who authored the unanimous Adolph opinion, will be the keynote speaker at “The Current State and Future of Forced Arbitration in America.” The day-long symposium on March 21 at UC Berkeley’s law school is sponsored by the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, the Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice, and the Center for Law and Work.

Also speaking at the symposium will be Michael Rubin, who represented the plaintiff in Adolph and who wins the At The Lectern award for best background during a remote oral argument (see here).

Related:

Craig Anderson in today’s the Daily Journal — “California’s PAGA law may make return trip to U.S. Supreme Court

Ninth Circuit says California Supreme Court prevails over U.S. Supreme Court “misunderstanding” of state PAGA arbitration law