Barker

I. Background

21 Plaintiff Russell Barker is a former employee of Northrop Grunman, working there 22 from 2010 until 2021, when his employment was terminated. FAC ¶¶ 11, 26. As part of 23 his employment, Plaintiff entered into several international arbitration agreements 24 (“IAA’s”) that were in effect during his overseas assignments. These included provisions 25 for arbitration of disputes as well as a section labeled “Jurisdiction and Venue.” The 26 arbitration provisions call for proceedings to be held in Falls Church, Virginia and the 27 Jurisdiction and venue section states in part: 28 “[A]ny dispute, controversy, claim, or complaint determined by a court of competent jurisdiction not to be arbitrable thereunder, shall be heard only in 2 the state and federal courts located in Virginia, U.S. Employee and Company hereby waive any right each may have to assert that litigation in the Virginia courts should not occur because it is inconvenient or to object to venue to the 4 extent any proceeding is brought in accordance with this paragraph. You and the Company stipulate that the state and federal courts located in Fairfax County, Virginia shall…