Miletak v. Compass Airlines LLC et al

Filing 25

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO COMPEL ARBITRATION AND DISMISS ACTION by Judge Vince Chhabria granting 10 Motion to Compel. (vclc2S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 11/7/2017)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

NICK MILETAK,

Case No. 17-cv-05052-VC

Plaintiff,
v.
COMPASS AIRLINES LLC, et al.,
Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
COMPEL ARBITRATION AND
DISMISS ACTION
Re: Dkt. No. 10

Nick Miletak entered into an arbitration agreement with Compass Airlines upon
employment with Compass. That agreement covers the claims he has brought in this lawsuit.
The arbitration agreement includes a waiver of class actions, collective actions, and
representative actions. See Dkt. No. 12 at 11, 20-21. This clause is illegal under Morris v. Ernst
& Young, LLP, 834 F.3d 975, 983 (9th Cir. 2016), cert. granted, 137 S. Ct. 809 (2017). But
because the term is invalid under a general contract defense that does not target arbitration, it
does not operate to invalidate the entire arbitration provision. Id. at 985.
The remaining aspects of the arbitration agreement between Miletak and Compass are not
unconscionable, and thus enforceable. Though "[o]rdinary contracts of adhesion . . . contain a
degree of procedural unconscionability," the doctrine of unconscionability requires both a
finding of procedural unconscionability and substantive unconscionability. Baltazar v. Forever
21, Inc., 62 Cal. 4th 1237, 1244 (2016). The contract here does not include any substantively
unconscionable provisions.

The motion to compel arbitration is therefore granted and the case is dismissed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: November 7, 2017
______________________________________
VINCE CHHABRIA
United States District Judge

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