Kilgore v. KeyBank, N.A. (Ninth Circuit en banc)

The California Supreme Court has held that claims for so-called “public” injunctive relief are non-arbitrable as a matter of state policy. A panel of the Ninth Circuit held that this rule is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, and the full Ninth Circuit agreed to rehear the case en banc. On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, we filed an amicus brief and presented oral argument before the en banc court, contending that the FAA preempts California’s state-law rule prohibiting arbitration of public-injunction claims. The en banc court resolved the case without reaching that issue, but the court later adopted our position in Ferguson v. Corinthian Colleges, Inc., 733 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2013), in which we also filed a brief on behalf of the Chamber.