Supreme Court Decision Alert - June 20, 2013

Keywords: American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, Supreme Court, dispute resolution, arbitration, class action, Federal Arbitration Act,

Today the Supreme Court issued one decision, described below, of interest to the business community.

Federal Arbitration Act—Arbitration of Federal Statutory Claims

American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133 (previously discussed in the November 9, 2012, Docket Report and on Mayer Brown's Class Defense Blog)

The Supreme Court held today in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133, that parties who have agreed to resolve disputes by arbitration on an individual basis, rather than through class-action litigation, may not avoid their agreements by asserting that individual arbitration would be cost-prohibitive. The Court explained that this issue was "all but resolved" by its earlier decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011), which held that