Russell v. Citigroup, Inc.

Keith Russell (plaintiff) signed an arbitration agreement covering only individual claims during an earlier stint at Citigroup, Inc. (defendant), then brought a class action in 2012 alleging Citigroup failed to pay employees for time spent logging in and out of their computers. While that suit was pending, Citigroup's call center rehired Russell, and he signed a new arbitration agreement, this time covering class actions, without consulting his attorneys, while Citigroup's outside counsel in the pending class action didn't know Russell had been rehired. After discovering the new agreement a month later, Citigroup moved to compel arbitration; the trial court denied the motion, reasoning the original arbitration agreement didn't cover class actions, and Citigroup filed an interlocutory appeal.