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Argument audio: Who decides unconscionability?
September 29, 2005 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
Listen to the oral argument of the 9th Circuit (en banc) in Nagrampa v. MailCoups, Inc.
The 9th Circuit reheard en banc (11 judges!) on 09/27/2005 the issue of whether it was for an arbitrator, rather than a court, to decide whether a contact is unconscionable. Nagrampa v. MailCoups, Inc (9th Cir 03/21/2005) was the original 3-judge panel decision holding that the arbitrator decides this question.
In Nagrampa there was a francise agreement which contained an arbitration agreement within it. Nagrampa claimed that both the arbitration agreement and the whole agreement were unconscionable. The 9th Circuit panel applied Prima Paint v. Flood & Conklin, 388 US 395 (1967), and made its own decision on the unconsionability of the arbitration agreement, but held that it was for the arbitrator to decide whether the contract as a whole was unconscionable.
That decision was withdrawn pending decision of the en banc court.
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Editor: Ross Runkel, Professor of Law Emeritus. email Ross@LawMemo.Com, Phone 503-399-8028. Copyright LawMemo, Inc.
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