Laster v. AT&T Mobility LLC, No. 08-56394

In a class action claiming that a telephone company's offer of a "free" phone to anyone who signed up for its service was fraudulent to the extent the phone company charged the new subscriber sales tax on the retail value of each "free" phone, denial of defendant's motion to compel arbitration is affirmed where an arbitration clause's "premium" payment in the event of an arbitral award in favor of a customer did not prevent the clause from being unenforceable under California law.

Read Laster v. AT&T Mobility LLC, No. 08-56394

Appellate Information

Argued and Submitted September 17, 2009

Filed October 27, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Bea

Counsel

For Appellants:

Donald M. Falk, Mayer Brown LLP, Palo Alto, CA

For Appellees:

Kirk B. Hulett, Hulett Harper Stewart LLP, San Diego, CA