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Lennar Carolinas, LLC v. Patricia Damico, et al.

Paid petition · Supreme Court of South Carolina, No. 2020-001048 · judgment September 14, 2022


Certiorari denied · June 5, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), an agreement to arbitrate “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2. This Court’s precedents have repeatedly held that the FAA embodies an equal-treatment or anti-discrimination rule that prohibits states from applying state law rules that accord “suspect status” to arbitration agreements or otherwise treat them differently from other contractual agreements. In this case, however, the Supreme Court of South Carolina reviewed a contractual arbitration agreement under an adverse presumption that requires courts to view arbitration provisions in consumer homebuying contracts with “considerable doubt” and “considerable skepticism.” The question presented is: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act prohibits courts from applying a state-law presumption expressly disfavoring enforcement of arbitration provisions in consumer homebuying contracts, when applicable state law does not subject other contractual agreements to the same adverse presumption.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jonathan D. Hacker
O'Melveny & Myers LLP

For respondent
Kathy M. Carlsten
Copeland, Stair, Valz & Lovell, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
22A696

Proceedings

  1. Jun 05 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. May 16 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/1/2023.
  3. May 10 2023
    Reply of petitioner Lennar Carolinas, LLC filed.
  4. Apr 26 2023
    Brief of respondent Patricia Damico in opposition filed.
  5. Mar 29 2023
    Waiver of right of respondents Knight's Concrete Products, Inc., Knight's Redi-Mixm, Inc. and Isidru Mejia to respond filed.
  6. Mar 27 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Builders FirstSource-Southeast Group, LLC to respond filed.
  7. Mar 24 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent South Carolina Exteriors, LLC to respond filed.
  8. Mar 22 2023
    Waiver of Decor Corporation of right to respond not accepted for filing. (March 22, 2023)
  9. Mar 22 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Decor Corporation to respond filed.
  10. Mar 21 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Land Site Services, Inc. to respond filed.
  11. Mar 20 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Alpha Omega Construction Group, Inc. to respond filed.
  12. Mar 13 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Myers Landscaping, Inc. to respond filed.
  13. Mar 10 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Jessica Marroquin d/b/a Marroquin Construction to respond filed.
  14. Mar 10 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Ozzy Construction, LLC to respond filed.
  15. Mar 10 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Civil Site Environment, Inc. to respond filed.
  16. Mar 09 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Guaranteed Framing, LLC to respond filed.
  17. Mar 09 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Spring Grove Plantation Development, Inc. to respond filed.
  18. Mar 09 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Southern Green, Inc. to respond filed.
  19. Mar 09 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Paragon Site Constructor, Inc. to respond filed.
  20. Mar 09 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent A.C. & A. Concrete, Inc. to respond filed.
  21. Mar 08 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 26, 2023.
  22. Mar 08 2023
    Waiver of right of respondents Raul Martinez Masonry and LA New Enterprises to respond filed.
  23. Mar 08 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Super Concrete of SC, Inc. to respond filed.
  24. Mar 07 2023
    Waiver of right of respondents Coastal Concrete Southeast, LLC and Coastal Concrete Southeast II, LLC to respond filed.
  25. Mar 07 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 27, 2023 to April 26, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
  26. Mar 07 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent DVS, Inc. to respond filed.
  27. Feb 22 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 27, 2023)
  28. Feb 02 2023
    Application (22A696) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until February 22, 2023.
  29. Jan 31 2023
    Application (22A696) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 15, 2023 to February 22, 2023, submitted to The Chief Justice.