July 2, 2019

Blair v. Rent-A-Center, Inc.
(June 28, 2019, 17-17221) F.3d [2019 WL 2701333]

In McGill v. Citibank, N.A. (2017) 2 Cal.5th 945, the California Supreme Court held that, where an arbitration agreement waives a plaintiff’s right to seek public injunctive relief in any forum under state consumer protection statutes, this waiver is unenforceable under California law. McGill also held that this rule is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act.

In Blair, the Ninth Circuit has likewise concluded that the Federal Arbitration Act does not preempt the McGill rule.

This issue could be ripe for further review if the defendant in Blair (or the defendants in the other two Ninth Circuit appeals that reached the same conclusion, McArdle v. AT&T Mobility LLC (9th Cir., June 28, 2019, 17-17246) ___ F.App’x ___ [2019 WL 2718474] and Tillage v. Comcast Corp. (9th Cir., June 28, 2019, 18-15288) ___ F.App’x ___ [2019 WL 2713292]) file petitions for rehearing en banc or for a writ of certiorari.