California State And Federal Courts Renew Their Attacks On Arbitration Agreements

In 1991, Sega introduced the video character Sonic the Hedgehog.  Sonic became insanely popular, spawning several generations of videogames that are still being designed and sold today, comic books, and even a short-lived television show.  Sonic is a blue hedgehog who must frequently fight to save a fictional world from the evil Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, assisted by other characters such as Knuckles the Echidna, Nack the Weasel, and a group called the Chaotix.  Seem a little strange?  Well, a different sort of Sonic is even stranger and harder to explain.

Given the hostility with which California state and federal courts have treated arbitration agreements in the past, it was only a matter of time before they began to concoct ways to avoid the recent spate of United States Supreme Court cases broadly upholding the use of such agreements in multiple contexts.  In Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno Case No.  (Oct. 17, 2013) (now generally referred to as "Sonic II"), a