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Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, Inc., et al. v. Rae Weiler
Paid petition · Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, No. G053953 · judgment April 30, 2018
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
This case involves the cost-sharing provision of an arbitration agreement. Executed as part of a contract to buy a restaurant, the agreement provides that the parties would divide arbitration costs equally. The investment turned sour within a few years, and one of the purchasers, Respondent Rae Weiler, sued petitioners for $2.8 million. After incurring only $15,725 in arbitration costs, Weiler asserted that she could not afford her share and demanded that petitioners pay all arbitration costs or lose their right to arbitrate. The California Court of Appeal granted Weiler’s demand. Without finding that the cost-sharing agreement violated any general contract-law doctrine, such as unconscionability, the court held that the state’s public policy favoring access to an affordable forum “far outweighs the interest, however strong, in respecting parties’ agreements to arbitrate.” App. 12a. The decision below, which rests on a state-law rule that applies only to arbitration agreements, will compel petitioners to pay all arbitration costs or lose their federal right to arbitrate. It also leaves courts free to usurp the arbitrator’s traditional role of allocating arbitration costs. The questions presented are: 1. Whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a state rule that denies enforcement of a cost-sharing provision in an arbitration agreement without a finding that the provision violates a general principle of state contract law.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Alexander Dushku
Kirton McConkie
For respondent
Scott Lawrence Nelson
Public Citizen Litigation Group
Proceedings
- Jun 03 2019Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by The California Building Industry Assn., et al. GRANTED.
- Jun 03 2019Petition DENIED.
- May 14 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/30/2019.
- May 14 2019Reply of petitioners Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 29 2019Brief of respondent Rae Weiler in opposition filed.
- Mar 18 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 29, 2019.
- Mar 06 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 29, 2019 to April 29, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 27 2019Response Requested. (Due March 29, 2019)
- Feb 20 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
- Feb 19 2019Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by The California Building Industry Association, et al. (Distributed)
- Feb 07 2019Waiver of right of respondent Rae Weiler to respond filed.
- Jan 14 2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 19, 2019)
- Nov 28 2018Application (18A450) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until January 12, 2019.
- Nov 26 2018Application (18A450) to extend further the time from December 13, 2018 to January 12, 2019, submitted to Justice Kagan.
- Oct 29 2018Application (18A450) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until December 13, 2018.
- Oct 25 2018Application (18A450) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 13, 2018 to December 13, 2018, submitted to Justice Kagan.