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The case involved an arbitration between a subcontractor and the general contractor on a project to construct a building at a petroleum refinery. The subcontractor brought a claim to recover for amounts it contended it was due under its subcontract. The general contractor asserted a counterclaim seeking to recover for, among other things, the excess cost of completing the subcontract because of the subcontractor's alleged abandonment of the project prior to completion. After a nine-day [...]

In 2021, two Circuit Court of Appeals, held diametric positions regarding penalties for taxpayers who non-willfully failed to file a Report of Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR): The Ninth Circuit concluded that the penalty was $10,000 per untimely filed FBAR, while the Fifth Circuit concluded that the penalty was $10,000 per account on each untimely filed FBAR. On February 28, 2023, the Supreme Court resolved this conflict, ruling that the penalty is calculated on a [...]

On February 15, 2023, a federal appeals court blocked a California law that prohibited employers from requiring their workers to resolve legal disputes in private arbitration. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a 2-1 decision held that the law cannot be enforced because it conflicts with federal arbitration law. This ruling hands an important victory to business groups and employers across the state. The 9th Circuit [...]