Will grant of certiorari in Laster v. AT&T Mobility LLC affect other cases? Not so far.

The Ninth Circuit's decision in Laster v. AT & T Mobility LLC, 584 F.3d 849 (9th Cir.2009) will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in AT & T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, --- S.Ct. ----, 2010 WL 303962, 78 USLW 3454, 78 USLW 3677, 78 USLW 3687 (U.S. May 24, 2010) (NO. 09-893).  The issue presented in Concepcion has been framed by some as calling for a determination of whether the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts the State of California from conditioning the enforcement of an arbitration agreement on the availability of class-wide arbitration.  Others have more aggressively described the issue more broadly.  In either event, the question of concern to litigants now is the effect, if any, of that decision to grant review in other cases.  In at least one case, there was no evident effect.

United States District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel (Northern District of California) denied a motion to stay that was predicated upon the Supreme Court's decision to grant certiorari in Concepcion.  Kaltwasser v. Cingular Wireless LLC, 2010 WL 2348642 (June 8, 2010) (unpublished).