Wall Street Journal Turns to Manatt Partner on Motions for Arbitration
"Kleiner Perkins Loses Motion to Send Pao Case to Arbitration"
The Wall Street Journal
July 20, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal looked to Manatt's Rebecca Torrey, a partner in the firm's Employment & Labor Practice, for insight into what a court will consider before granting a motion to send a case to arbitration.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture firm, lost its motion to send a case to arbitration. The case was brought against the firm by a female partner who alleges gender discrimination and retaliation.
The issue of whether the case should be sent to arbitration came down to a legal technicality - whether the plaintiff is covered by contracts with Kleiner funds that require disagreements to be arbitrated. The plaintiff argued that she is employed by Kleiner, not the funds, and that she and Kleiner have no arbitration agreement.
Torrey told the newspaper that judges are careful about granting arbitration because it requires people to waive their constitutional right to trial by jury.
"The entire legal system is designed to make sure that the parties who may or may not have waived a right have really waived it before it's gone," she said.
Read the article here.