Discover Bank v. Superior Court

Discover Bank v. Superior Court
Court Supreme Court of California
Full case name Discover Bank v. Superior Court of Los Angeles; Christopher Boehr, Real Party in Interest
Decided June 27 2005
Citation(s) 36 Cal. 4th 148, 113 P.3d 1100
Holding
An arbitration agreement with a class-action waiver was unenforceable on the grounds of unconscionability
Court membership
Chief Judge Ronald M. George
Associate Judges Marvin R. Baxter, Janice Rogers Brown, Ming Chin, Joyce L. Kennard, Carlos R. Moreno, Kathryn Werdegar
Case opinions
Majority Moreno, joined by George, Kennard, Werdegar
Concur/dissent Baxter , joined by Chin, Brown
Laws applied
Federal Arbitration Act, California Civil Code §1668

Discover Bank v. Superior Court (30 Cal.Rptr.3d 76) is a 2005 case where the California Supreme Court ruled that an arbitration clause was unenforceable because a class-action waiver contained within it would exculpate Discover Bank from liability for wrongdoing involving small sums of damages. Carlos R. Moreno, in the majority opinion, stated the Discover Bank test to determine whether a class-action waiver is unenforceable. In the Discover Bank test, a class-action waiver will be unenforceable under California law when it appears in a "consumer contract of adhesion," when the disputes "predictably involve small amounts of damages," and where the plaintiff alleges that "the party with the superior bargaining power has carried out a scheme to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money."[1]

The United States Supreme Court overruled Discover Bank in a 5–4 decision in the 2011 case AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion.

References

  1. 30 Cal.Rptr.3d at 87
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