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Saturday, June 15, 2024

'One-sided' nature of company's arbitration agreement voids it

State Court
Agreement

OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Truck drivers have succeeded in keeping their proposed class action lawsuit against Daylight Transport in court.

That’s because the California First Appellate District, in an opinion certified Dec. 31, rejected calls from the company to move the dispute into arbitration, pursuant to a clause in the drivers’ employment contracts.

However, it has been determined that the drivers are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act because they are transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce and that the arbitration clause was unconscionable.

The agreement allowed Daylight Transport, the appellant, the power to seek redress in court for any controversy while preventing the drivers from doing the same.

“(B)ecause the clause purports to permit appellant alone to seek redress in court, because the rights given to appellant in clause 6.02(c) of the arbitration provision go beyond the bilateral rights provided by section 1281.8 to parties involved in the arbitration process, and because appellant has provided no reasonable justification for such a one-sided carve out, this clause is substantively unconscionable,” says the opinion, authored by Justice J. Anthony Kline.

The drivers are alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors, which deprived them of certain benefits that full-time employees enjoy.

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