Verizon Seeks Order to Strike Respondent's Class Allegations Under FAA
Verizon seeks a court order to strike a respondent’s class allegations under the Federal Arbitration Act and arbitrate the customer's dispute as an individual complaint, said its Monday petition to compel (docket 4:23-cv-00823) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri…
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in St. Louis. The petition also seeks declaratory judgment. Respondent Andrew Holschen of St. Louis initiated a demand for himself only to arbitrate through the American Arbitration Association (AAA) in May 2022, challenging certain administrative charges for his Verizon wireless service, said the petition. In that demand, he opted out of “any and all past, present, and future classwide arbitrations” on Verizon’s administrative charge, it said. In September, Holschen amended his demand by filing a class action petition on behalf of himself and similarly situated individuals. Holschen acknowledged his agreement doesn’t allow class actions, but in an "attempt to circumvent" its “clear and unambiguous class waiver,” Holschen claimed paragraph 3, which "doesn’t allow class or collective arbitration," shouldn't apply because it conflicted with paragraph 6, which requires an administrative process if 25 or more customers initiate disputes with similar claims. Holschen’s “remedy” for the conflict between the two paragraphs is to nullify them, making him free to pursue class arbitration, the petition said. In March, Verizon moved to strike the class allegations for violating the agreement language; the arbitrator denied its motion to strike and didn't rule on the purported conflict between paragraphs. The arbitrator set Monday as a deadline for Holschen to file for class certification. Holschen’s underlying arbitration should be stayed until the court compels individual arbitration, Verizon said. The carrier will be “irreparably harmed” if Holschen is allowed to begin class arbitration, it said. A stay is “consistent with judicial efficiency” and would prevent contradictory rulings from the court and arbitrator, Verizon said.