BREAKING NEWS RE CALIFORNIA CLASS ACTION WAIVERS: GENTRY IS DEAD; LONG LIVE PAGA.

Gentry is dead.  Back in 2007, the California Supreme Court, inGentry v. Superior Court held that California public policy favoring class actions was so important that employers cannot have employees, in arbitration agreements, waive their right to pursue a class action.  Many thought that the Gentry rule contradicted the Federal Arbitration Act, and further thought that the U.S. Supreme Court so indicated in a 2011 decision, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion.  But many California courts, post-Concepcion, continued to apply Gentry to invalidate class action waivers in arbitration agreements.  On Monday, however, the California Supreme Court confirmed that the rumors of Gentry’s death were not exaggerated after all:  in light of Concepcion, the Gentry rule really is FAA-preempted.  Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (Cal. Sup. Ct., filed 6/23/2014).

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