Three employees learned the hard way that you don’t sign something before reading it

The California Court of Appeal recently upheld the authenticity of an arbitration agreement since the former employees failed to prove that they did not sign the agreement or that their signatures were forged or inauthentic.

In 2018 and 2019, the three plaintiffs in the case of Iyere v. Wise Auto Group started working for Wise Auto Group, doing business as Infiniti of Marin. Two plaintiffs were sales consultants, while the other was a sales manager.

In 2021, the plaintiffs brought a joint complaint against Wise and one of its employees. They alleged discrimination, harassment, retaliation, contractual breach, torts, statutory rights violation, and wrongful termination in violation of public policy.

Wise filed a motion to compel each plaintiff to submit his claims to individual arbitration. It provided the following evidence:

• Copies of a binding arbitration agreement that allegedly included each plaintiff’s signature, handwritten and hand-dated on his first day of work
• A declaration from the HR director and custodian of personnel records that authenticated these documents

The trial court denied the motion. It said that the arbitration agreement was procedurally and substantively unconscionable and that Wise failed to prove the authenticity of the signatures. Wise appealed.

The California Court of Appeal for the First District reversed the trial court’s decision. The appellate court...

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