Kinecta Alternative Financial Solutions, Inc. v. Superior Court

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Kinecta Alternative Financial Solutions, Inc. (Kinecta), petitions for writ of mandate or prohibition to set aside an order denying Kinecta’s request for dismissal of class claims from the complaint filed by plaintiff Kim Malone. When Kinecta hired Malone, she signed a provision that Kinecta and Malone would arbitrate disputes arising out of Malone’s employment. By granting Kinecta’s motion to compel arbitration and denying its motion to dismiss class allegations from Malone’s complaint, the trial court imposed class arbitration, even though the arbitration provision was silent on the issue of class arbitration and limited the arbitration to disputes between Malone and Kinecta. We address the issue whether a party to an arbitration provision which neither authorizes nor prohibits class arbitration can be compelled to arbitrate class arbitration.

In Discover Bank v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal.4th 148 [ 30 Cal.Rptr.3d 76 , 113 P.3d 1100 ], overruled in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011) 563 U.S. _ [ 179 L.Ed.2d 742 , 131 S.Ct. 1740 ], the California Supreme Court states that when a consumer contract of adhesion contains a class action…