When the U.S. Supreme Court builds a decisional wall around a subject, it usually does so a brick at a time, forcing attorneys to squint and strain, and sometimes squirm, as they attempt to envision the ultimate dimensions of the structure. The trick for Supreme Court watchers is to deduce which types of cases and clients will be left on the outside looking in when the court hangs up its trowel. A recent decision by the Supreme Court placed another brick in a wall the Court seems to be constructing to protect businesses from class actions. When the wall is complete, employee class actions may be among the types of cases left out in the cold.
On its face, Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds Int’l Corp., 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010), would not appear to have a direct impact on employers. The case involved an antitrust claim arising from a shipping contract between business parties. The contract required the parties to submit any disputes arising from the agreement to binding arbitration. The agreement was silent as to whether a dispute could be combined with similar disputes between nonparties to the contract to form a class action arbitration.
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