Disgruntled Timeshare Owner's Bid For Class Arbitration Thwarted

On August 30, the Northern District of California thwarted a disgruntled timeshare owner's attempt to arbitrate her dispute against a timeshare developer on a classwide basis. A timeshare purchaser alleged that Wyndham, the timeshare developer, improperly changed her "use year" and demanded an arbitration. Wyndham responded by filing a declaratory judgment action against the purchaser and also filed a motion to compel the purchaser to arbitrate her individual claims and to preclude her from pursuing her class claims in arbitration. The court ruled that this was a decision for the arbitrator to make. The arbitrator found that the case could not proceed on a classwide arbitration basis. The court affirmed.