We report on three case developments during July 2023 that raise the question whether last-mile, logistics, and delivery companies alleged to have misclassified drivers as independent contractors can compel arbitration of those types of claims when there is an arbitration agreement between the parties. In the first case, an Ohio federal district court judge ruled that such drivers are covered by the interstate transportation worker arbitration exemption in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) that excludes such workers – whether they are employees or independent contractors – from arbitration. The court acknowledged, though, that a state arbitration law may have provided an alternative basis to compel arbitration, but ruled that the language in the parties’ independent contractor agreement did not unambiguously provide for state arbitration law to govern if the FAA did not. The Ohio federal court decision is consistent with a New Jersey federal court opinion on which we commented in a blog post last year, where we noted that the failure to draft an effective arbitration agreement can doom a logistics company’s effort to compel arbitration of a class action IC misclassification suit. Any company utilizing drivers who may be covered by the interstate transportation worker arbitration exemption under the FAA should take heed. Beginning with a blog post we published nearly five years ago, we have provided readers with a number of tips as to how companies can effectively draft...
Police have launched an investigation into alleged false accusation by Park Cheol-min, a former member of the Seongnam International Mafia. Park, ahead of the 2022 presidential election, raised al...