Will The FAA Give Wings To Arbitration Bylaws? -- Federal Arbitration Act
Friday, March 20, 2015

In January, I discussed the Court of Appeal’s decision in Cobb v. Ironwood Country Club, 233 Cal. App. 4th 960 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 2015).  I found the case interesting because the Court applied a contract law analysis to an arbitration bylaw:

Ironwood asserts that its bylaws constitute a contract between the Club and each of its members. (See King v. Larsen Realty, Inc. (1981) 121 Cal.App.3d 349, 357.)  We agree.

In a forthcoming article, Duke Law School Professor Ann M. Lipton argues that charters and bylaws are not contractual within the meaning of the Federal Arbitration Act.  She makes this argument because the FAA requires that contractual arbitration clauses be “enforced according to their terms”.  Thus, the FAA could represent an obstacle to state attempts to rein in arbitration bylaw provisions.  You can read all about it here (especially footnote #340 citing this blog).

Recent Reads

I usually have several books going at the same time.  Here’s my recent list:

Recently Completed:

John Kiser, The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria: This book tells the story of the kidnapping and murder of seven monks living in a Trappist monastery in the Atlas mountains of Algiers.  If you’re not familiar with the Algeria’s war for independence from France, I recommend Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers (both the book and the movie).

Henry St. George Tucker, The History of the Episcopal Church in Japan.  Published in 1938, this is an admittedly obscure title, but provides a good summary of the history of Christianity in Japan, which actually began on August 15, 1549 with the arrival of Francis Xavier in Kagoshima, Japan.  It is also fascinating due to its publication just before the Second World War.  An easier to find title is John Dougill’s In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians: A Story of Suppression, Secrecy and Survival.

Underway:

John Michael Walton, Euripides, Our Contemporary.  Euripides lived in the fifth century B.C.E. and wrote plays that were intended to be produced only once at the festival of Dionysia.  It’s amazing that any of Euripides’ plays have survived.  As this title suggests, they are amazingly contemporary.  If you get the opportunity to see or read any of his plays, I strongly recommend Trojan Women and Alcestis.

Oliver Statler, Shimoda Story.  Townsend Harris was the first United States consul posted to Japan after Commodore Perry forced the Tokugawa shogunate to open the country to the outside world after centuries of isolation.

 

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