Federal Appeals Court Upholds Arbitration Institution’s Authority to Consolidate Mass Arbitrations

Defending against numerous individual arbitrations that share common factual and legal issues can cost companies significant time and money. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that such arbitrations can be consolidated when permitted by the applicable arbitration agreement and arbitration rules and affirmed the denial of a petition to compel individual arbitration. But the Ninth Circuit's decision underscores that companies must pay careful attention to the language of their arbitration agreements and their selected arbitration rules in order to ensure that consolidation is an option.

Case Background

In Kiana Jones v. Starz Entertainment, LLC, the plaintiff, Kiana Jones, created a Starz account and agreed to Starz's Terms of Use. The Terms included a mandatory arbitration clause incorporating the rules of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS), one of the major arbitration institutions in the U.S. The…