Jeffrey Berman Quoted in the Daily Journal
"Class action landscape altered"

Seyfarth Shaw Los Angeles partner Jeffrey Berman was quoted in the Daily Journal on July 18. Declaring that California would remain a "battleground state," the article discussed the after effects resulting from two U.S. Supreme Court class action cases, Dukes v. Wal-Mart and AT&T v. Concepcion. Both cases make it more difficult for plaintiffs to bring class actions before a jury; Dukes makes the certification process more arduous, and Concepcion made it easier to attack California's anti-arbitration clause case law.

However, the California Second District Court of Appeal has recently cast doubt on the Concepcion decision, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has requested briefing in a Texas matter regarding whether class-action waivers in employment contracts violate a federal law protecting the right of workers to act together.

Jeffrey commented, "Should the workers triumph…it would set up a clash between two co-equal laws, with the NLRB prohibiting class-action waivers and Federal Arbitration Act allowing them."

The article also touched on other issues surrounding class-action waivers that would most likely be debated in court and noted that it is yet to be determined how Dukes' outcome will be applied in lower courts.