In Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela,[i] a 5-4 decision issued on April 24, 2019,
the Supreme Court of the United States concluded "Courts may
not infer from an ambiguous agreement that parties have consented
to arbitrate on a classwide basis." Chief Justice Roberts
delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Thomas,
Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh joined. Justice Thomas filed a
concurring opinion. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan
filed dissenting opinions.
Frank Varela, an employee of Lamps Plus, like most other
employees at the company, signed an arbitration agreement at the
inception of his employment. In 2016, a hacker impersonating a
company official tricked a Lamps Plus employee into disclosing the
tax information of approximately 1,300 employees. Shortly
thereafter, a fraudulent federal income tax return was filed in
Varela's name.
