Arbitration

On November 3, 2017, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (“Thrivent”) obtained a preliminary injunction that temporarily restrains the Department of Labor (the “Department” or the “DOL”) from enforcing an anti-arbitration provision in an exemption to the DOL’s fiduciary duty rule (the “Fiduciary Rule” or the “Rule”) against Thrivent. See Thrivent Financial for Lutherans v. Acosta , Case No. 16-cv-03289 (SRN/DTS) (D. Minn. Nov. 3, 2017). ( Here .) The decision was issued days af

Parties to commercial and business disputes frequently encounter and litigate the threshold question whether their dispute must be arbitrated rather than litigated in court. But, before this question can be answered, there is an even more fundamental question that must be resolved: who decides whether a dispute is subject to arbitration – the court or the arbitrator? Courts have struggled with this question for years and continue to do so today. Generally, whether a claim is

Investing in the stock market can be challenging.  Understanding investment vehicles like stocks, bonds, limited partnerships, annuities, hedge funds, derivatives and mutual funds can be overwhelming for investors.  For that reason, many investors rely on stockbrokers and financial advisors to provide suitable investment advice to protect their hard-earned money. While most brokers and financial advisors act in their customer’s best interest, some do not.  When that happens,

It has long been the policy in New York to favor and encourage arbitration as a means of expediting the resolution of disputes and conserving judicial resources. Rio Algom Inc. v. Sammi Steel Co., Ltd. , 168 A.D.2d 250, 251 (1st Dept. 1990). For this reason, when parties have chosen arbitration as their forum for dispute resolution, they are precluded “from using the courts as a vehicle to protract litigation.” Matter of Weinrott (Carp) , 32 N.Y.2d 190, 199 (1973). Notwithst

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released a highly anticipated rule that bars banks and credit card companies from using arbitration clauses to prevent customers from joining class action lawsuits. The rule was initially proposed by CFPB Director Richard Cordray last year and is slated to go into effect in eight months. Currently, mandatory arbitration clauses are used in an array of financial products and the rule applies to new agreements for credit card

As noted in a prior Blog post ( here ), the Labor Department's fiduciary rule, at least the first phase of the rule, has gone into effect, though its future remains uncertain. On June 9, 2017, two provisions of the rule, which requires financial advisers and other investment professionals to act in the best interest of their clients and to disclose any potential conflicts of interest when providing retirement advice, became effective. One expands the definition of who is a fi

The Fiduciary Rule (the “Rule”) is designed to protect investors receiving investment advice about qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) by requiring all registered brokers, financial advisers, and other investment professionals (collectively, “Financial Advisors”) to act in the best interest of their clients and to disclose any potential conflicts of interest when providing retirement advice. The Rule also requires Financial Advisors who earn