Kilgore v. KeyBank, Nat'l Ass'n

3 Analyses of this case by attorneys

  1. Arbitration

    California Department of Fair Employment and HousingOctober 28, 2013

    Specifically, the policy's arbitrator selection process would always produce an arbitrator proposed by the defendant in employee-initiated arbitration proceedings; the policy precluded institutional arbitration administrators, which have established rules and procedures to select a neutral arbitrator; and the policy's arbitrator-fee-apportionment provision would have the effect of pricing employees out of the dispute resolution process.The panel distinguishedKilgore v.KeyBank National Ass'n, 718 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2013) (en banc) (holding that mere risk that plaintiff will face prohibitive costs is too speculative to justify invalidating arbitration agreement), on the basis that the defendant's policy's fee provision stood by other unconscionable terms and was not speculative.The panel held that the state law supporting the unconsionability holding was not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act because it applied to contracts generally and did not in practice impact arbitration agreements disproportionately. The panel held that the Supreme Court's decision in American Exress Corp. v. Italian Colors Restaurant,133 S. Ct. 2304 (2013) (upholding arbitration policy with class waiver provision on basis that expense of proving statutory remedy did not eliminate right to pursue that remedy), did not preclude it from considering the cost that the defendant's arbitration agreement imposed on employees in order for them to bring a claim.The panel affirmed the decision of the district court denying the defend

  2. Ninth Circuit Enforces Student Loan Arbitration Agreement

    BuckleySandler LLPApril 24, 2013

    On April 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, held that a national bank could compel arbitration of a dispute involving student loans.Kilgore v. KeyBank, Nat’l Ass’n, No. 09-16703, 2013 WL 1458876 (9th Cir. Apr. 11, 2013). Former students of a failed flight-training school filed a class action in state court seeking broad injunctive relief against the bank that originated their student loans and the loan servicer.

  3. Ninth Circuit Revives California Law That Allows Plaintiffs Seeking Injunctive Relief To Avoid Arbitration

    Stinson Leonard Street LLPApril 18, 2013

    Upon rehearing the case en banc, the Court backpedaled. Kilgore v. KeyBank Nat’l Assoc., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 1458876 (9th Cir. April 11, 2013). Ten judges of that Circuit concluded that the California case law simply did not apply to the plaintiffs’ claims, so there was no reason to reach the preemption question.