UGA Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge (left) and Genevieve Pfister, a student at University of Georgia School of Law. (Courtesy photos)
This term, the United States Supreme Court has heard arguments on three major arbitration law cases. The pending decisions carry far-reaching consequences for practitioners in employment law, corporate transactions, consumer protection and many other fields.
Bissonnette
Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. LLC concerns Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act. That decision exempts from the act’s reach “contracts of employment for railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” 9 U.S.C. § 1. In an earlier decision, Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, the court held that Section 1 carved out “any class of workers directly involved in transporting goods across state or international borders.” Bissonnette presents the question of whether the Section 1 exemption, as interpreted by Saxon, extends to truck drivers in the baking industry.
