Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
HRB Tax Group, Inc., et al. v. Derek Snarr
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-17441 · judgment December 9, 2020
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
This Court has repeatedly held that the Federal Arbitration Act “protect[s]” agreements “to use individualized rather than class or collective action procedures,” and that “courts may not allow a contract defense to reshape traditional individualized arbitration.” Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612, 1621, 1623 (2018). But the California Supreme Court has interpreted California’s consumer-protection laws to authorize “public injunctive relief”—which it defines as relief that “prevent[s] further harm to the public at large” and not “[r]elief that has the primary purpose or effect of redressing or preventing injury to an individual plaintiff.” McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 393 P.3d 85, 90 (Cal. 2017) (quotation marks omitted). And that court has held that “a provision in a predispute arbitration agreement that waives the right to seek this statutory remedy * * * is contrary to California public policy and is thus unenforceable under California law.” Id. at 87. The question presented is whether California’s public-policy rule declining to enforce agreements for individualized arbitration whenever a plaintiff seeks a public injunction is preempted by the FAA.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Archis Ashok Parasharami
Mayer Brown LLP
For respondent
Scott Lawrence Nelson
Public Citizen Litigation Group
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Dec 09 2021Stipulation to dismissal of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 46.1 filed.
- Dec 09 2021Petition Dismissed - Rule 46.
- Dec 03 2021Supplemental brief of respondent Derek Snarr filed. (Distributed)
- Nov 23 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/10/2021.
- Sep 03 2021Supplemental brief of petitioners HRB Tax Group, Inc., et al. filed.
- Aug 25 2021Rescheduled.
- Aug 18 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
- Aug 17 2021Reply of petitioners HRB Tax Group, Inc., et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jul 20 2021Motion to delay distribution of the petition for a writ certiorari until August 18, 2021 granted.
- Jul 16 2021Motion of petitioner to delay distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 15.5 from July 28, 2021, 2021 to August 18, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 12 2021Brief of respondent Derek Snarr in opposition filed.
- Jun 11 2021Brief amici curiae of American Bankers Association and Consumer Bankers Association filed.
- Jun 02 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 12, 2021.
- Jun 01 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 11, 2021 to July 12, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 10 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 11, 2021)