The state of the law under ERISA relating to such things as arbitration clauses in plans, bars in plans on class actions and the efficacy of releases and agreements not to sue is nothing other than a complete mess. One recent entry in the debate has a distinctly pop-culture overtone.
In Avecilla v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., which involved a major (the major?) purveyor of rock concerts, the Ninth Circuit upheld an arbitration clause as consented to by the plan, but also, in what may turn out to be an interesting foray into the notion of federal common law, opened the door to the possible validity of an unconscionability defense. I won't even mention the companion Platt v. Sodexo case, even though the discussion therein is far more extensive, since that one has no pop-culture overtones that I can find.
No comments:
Post a Comment