Lowden v. T-Mobile USA Inc.

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Lowden v. T-Mobile USA Inc.. Read the opinion of the Court — 512 F.3d 1213
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided January 22, 2008·No. 06-35395·Published

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

KATHLEEN LOWDEN and JOHN  MAHOWALD, individually and on behalf of all the members of the No. 06-35395 class of persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees,  D.C. No. CV-05-01482-MJP v. OPINION T-MOBILE USA, INC., a foreign corporation, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Marsha J. Pechman, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 7, 2007—Seattle, Washington

Filed January 22, 2008

Before: William C. Canby, Jr., Susan P. Graber, and Ronald M. Gould, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Gould

839 LOWDEN v. T-MOBILE USA 841

COUNSEL

Stephen M. Rummage, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Seattle, Washington, for the defendant-appellant.

David E. Breskin, and Daniel F. Johnson, Breskin Johnson & Townsend, Seattle, Washington, for the plaintiffs-appellees. 842 LOWDEN v. T-MOBILE USA OPINION

GOULD, Circuit Judge:

I

The issues on appeal are whether the arbitration provisions in Defendant T-Mobile’s service agreements with two of its customers are enforceable under Washington state law and, if not, whether the state law is preempted by the Federal Arbi- tration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16. After two consumers of T-Mobile’s cellular phone service brought a class action against T-Mobile in state court for breach of contract and vio- lation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (the “CPA”), Wash. Rev. Code § 19.86.010-19.86.920, T-Mobile removed the case to federal district court and moved to com- pel arbitration per its service agreements. The district court denied T-Mobile’s motion to compel arbitration, holding that the arbitration agreements were tainted by substantive uncon- scionability and thus were unenforceable. We conclude that the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision in Scott v. Cingular Wireless, 161 P.3d 1000 (Wash. 2007), establishes that T-Mobile’s arbitration provision is substantively uncon- scionable and unenforceable under Washington state law, and that there is no federal preemption in light of our decision in Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless Servs., Inc., 498 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. 2007). We therefore affirm.

II

The two named Plaintiffs, Kathleen Lowden and John Mahowald, are or were T-Mobile customers whose service agreements contained mandatory arbitration provisions with slightly varying terms. Plaintiffs sued T-Mobile, alleging that the service provider had improperly charged them for certain fees beyond the advertised price of service, charged them for calls during a billing period other than that in which the calls were made, and charged them for roaming and other services LOWDEN v. T-MOBILE USA 843 that should have been free. T-Mobile moved to compel arbi- tration in accord with the arbitration provisions in Lowden’s and Mahowald’s service agreements.

In Lowden’s service agreement,1 immediately above the signature line, the following provision appeared: “Disputes are subject to mandatory arbitration pursuant to paragraph 19. See Reverse.” Paragraph 19 stated:

Mandatory Arbitration. Any controversy, claim or dispute between you and Company arising under this Agreement, excluding actions by Company to collect unpaid charges, shall be submitted to final, binding arbitration under the auspices of the American Arbi- tration Association (“AAA”) pursuant to its pub- lished Wireless Industry Arbitration Rules, incorporated herein by this reference and available by calling the AAA at 800-778-7879 or visiting its web site at http://www.adr.org. Notice of an arbitra- tion commenced by you shall be served on Compa- ny’s registered agent. All claims shall be arbitrated individually and you agree that no person shall bring a punitive [sic] or certified class action to arbitration or seek to consolidate or bring previously consoli- dated claims in arbitration. The arbitrator shall have no authority to award punitive damages. YOU 1 We must assure ourselves that the constitutional standing requirements are satisfied before proceeding to the merits. United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 742 (1995); Casey v. Lewis, 4 F.3d 1516, 1524 (9th Cir. 1993). Although the district court and T-Mobile suggest that Lowden may not have standing to pursue her claims, we need not reach this issue. In a class action, standing is satisfied if at least one named plaintiff meets the requirements. See Armstrong v. Davis, 275 F.3d 849, 860 (9th Cir. 2001). Here, the parties do not dispute that Mahowald has standing from his alleged injury in fact that is both traceable to T-Mobile’s alleged conduct and likely to be redressed by the damages that Mahowald seeks. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992) (discussing Article III standing requirements). 844 LOWDEN v. T-MOBILE USA ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THIS ARBITRATION PROVISION CONSTITUTES A WAIVER OF ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL.

Those provisions were also in the Terms & Conditions that accompanied the phone delivered to Lowden and that stated that, “By activating Service with Company, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the terms of this Agreement.” T-Mobile asserts that, had Lowden or her then-husband dis- agreed with those terms, they could have canceled service and thereby avoided arbitration.

The service agreement in effect when Mahowald signed up with T-Mobile was slightly different in substance. While con- taining an almost identical provision above the signature line, the provision on the reverse stated:

Mandatory Arbitration; Dispute Resolution. ANY CLAIM OR DISPUTE BETWEEN YOU AND US ARISING UNDER OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO OR CONCERNING THE AGREE- MENT, AND/OR OUR PROVISION TO YOU OF GOODS, SERVICE, OR UNITS, SHALL BE SUB- MITTED TO FINAL, BINDING ARBITRATION WITH THE AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSO- CIATION (“AAA”) PURSUANT TO ITS PUB- LISHED WIRELESS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION RULES, INCORPORATED HEREIN BY THIS REFERENCE AND AVAILABLE BY CALLING THE AAA AT 800-778-7879 OR VISITING ITS WEBSITE AT http://www.adr.org. Any arbitration proceeding shall be subject to the choice of law pro- vision in Paragraph 22. Notice of an arbitration com- menced by you must be served on our registered agent. No party may act as a representative of other claimants or potential claimants in any dispute, and two or more individuals’ disputes may not be consol- idated or otherwise determined in one proceeding. LOWDEN v. T-MOBILE USA 845 An arbitrator may not award relief in excess of or inconsistent with the provisions of the Agreement, order consolidation or arbitration on a class wide basis, or award lost profits, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages or any other damages other than the prevailing party’s direct damages, except that the arbitrator may order injunctive or declara- tory relief pursuant to applicable law. All administra- tive expenses of an arbitration will be equally divided between you and Us, except that if the claim is less that $1,000, you will be obligated to pay only $25. If the claim is less than $25, We will pay all administrative expenses.

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