Discover Bank v. Superior Court

This case is before us on remand from the California Supreme Court. We are to decide whether a contractual choice-of-law provision should be respected in determining the enforceability of a class action waiver in the contract between plaintiff Christopher Boehr and defendant Discover Bank where plaintiff alleges no violations of California substantive law and sues on behalf of a putative nationwide class. We conclude that the parties’ choice of Delaware law should be respected, and that under Delaware law the class action waiver is enforceable. We therefore grant Discover Bank’s petition.

BACKGROUND

The factual and procedural background is amply summarized in the opinion of the Supreme Court. In brief: Boehr, a California resident, obtained a credit card from Discover Bank in 1986. Discover Bank is domiciled in Delaware, and the cardholder agreement contained a choice-of-law clause providing for the application of Delaware and federal law. In 1999, Discover Bank amended the cardholder agreement by adding an arbitration clause that prohibited both parties to the agreement from participating in classwide arbitration, consolidating claims, or arbitrating claims as a…