Samaniego v. Empire Today, LLC
California Court of Appeal
140 Cal. Rptr.3d 492 (2012)
Salome Samaniego (plaintiff), a non-native English speaker, was required to sign an 11-page, single-spaced, small-font form contract to begin work as a carpet installer for Empire Today, LLC (Empire) (defendant), which refused to provide a Spanish translation or a copy of the incorporated arbitration rules. The contract's arbitration clause shortened Samaniego's limitations period to sue, required him alone to pay Empire's attorney's fees, and exempted various employer-typical claims from arbitration while adding no comparable carve-out for employee claims. Samaniego filed a putative class action alleging labor-law violations, and the trial court denied Empire's motion to compel arbitration, finding the contract unconscionable; Empire appealed.
Whether an arbitration clause in a contract of adhesion is unenforceable under unconscionability where there is an absence of meaningful choice for one party and the contract terms are unreasonably favorable to the other party.