Yet another new class action arbitration opinion: Caron v. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC

Scott Leviant pulls no punches in his post on a new Court of Appeal opinion, Caron v. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Jun. 29, 2012; pub. ord. Jul. 30, 2012).  (Although the opinion was published on Monday, it did not appear on the new opinions page until Tuesday.)

In Caron, the Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division Three) held that the FAA preempts the CLRA's "no waiver" provision (Civ. Code section 1751).  Scott's critique of the court's analysis is pretty spot-on.  As he observes, the opinion creates a split in authority with Fisher v. DCH Temecula Imports LLC, 187 Cal. App. 4th 601 (2010) (discussed in this blog post), so this is another case to add to the Supreme Court watch list.