Martini v. Bicycle Health Inc

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMarch 31, 2023
Docket2:22-cv-01509
StatusUnknown

This text of Martini v. Bicycle Health Inc (Martini v. Bicycle Health Inc) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martini v. Bicycle Health Inc, (E.D. Wis. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

GRETCHEN MARTINI,

Plaintiff, Case No. 22-CV-1509-JPS v.

BICYCLE HEALTH INC., BICYCLE ORDER HEALTH MEDICAL GROUP PA, and ANKIT GUPTA,

Defendants.

On January 20, 2023, Defendants Bicycle Health Inc. and Bicycle Health Medical Group PA (the “Bicycle Defendants”) filed a motion to compel arbitration and to either dismiss or stay Plaintiff Gretchen Martini’s (“Plaintiff”) complaint pending completion of arbitration. ECF No. 13. This motion is now fully briefed, and for the reasons stated below, the Court will grant the motion to compel arbitration and will dismiss the action without prejudice.1

1Plaintiff additionally filed a motion to strike Defendants’ reply or, alternatively, to allow Plaintiff to file a sur-reply. ECF No. 26 at 1. Therein, Plaintiff asserts that Defendants raised for the first time in their reply brief the theories of third-party beneficiary, agency, and estoppel and that Plaintiff accordingly had no opportunity to respond to them. Id. at 2–3. But Defendants raised these theories in their brief in support. See ECF No. 14 at 16 (“Arthur Andersen v. Carlisle, 556 U.S. 624 (2009) (‘Because traditional principles of state law allow a contract to be enforced by or against non-parties to the contract through assumption, piercing the corporate veil, alter ego, incorporation by reference, third-party beneficiary theories, waiver and estoppel, a holding that non-parties to a contract are categorically barred from § 3 relief is in error.’). Under the theory of agency, an agent can assume the protection of the 1. BACKGROUND This action arises from Plaintiff’s employment with the Bicycle Defendants. ECF No. 1. She alleges that she is owed overtime wages because Defendants “misclassif[ied] her as an exempt employee” and “fail[ed] to give her credit for all her hours worked.” Id. at 1. She additionally alleges that Defendants reduced her hours in retaliation for her “filing for arbitration pursuant to the FLSA.” Id. She brings her “First Claim for Relief, pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act” on both her own behalf and on behalf of “all non-exempt remote employees of Defendants” who were subject to the same treatment as Plaintiff. Id. at 8. Plaintiff began her employment for the Bicycle Defendants as a Patient Intake Coordinator. Id. at 3. Her employer, Bicycle Health Inc., is a Delaware corporation that “facilitates the provision of largely telemedicine care for patients with opioid use disorders.” Id. Prior to beginning her employment, the Bicycle Defendants sent a formal offer of employment, dated May 29, 2021, to Plaintiff. See generally ECF No. 16-1; ECF No. 15 at 2. That document included an “Arbitration and Class Action Waiver” section. ECF No. 16-1 at 2. That section heading is both bolded and underlined. It provides the following: You and the Company agree to submit to mandatory binding arbitration, governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”), any and all claims arising out of or related to your employment with the Company and the termination thereof,

contract which the principal has signed. See Arnold, 920 F.2d at 1281.”); id. at 16–17 (noting that Plaintiff’s complaint alleged an agency relationship between Gupta and Bicycle Health Inc. and arguing that the complaint “plainly supports the principal-agent relationship”). And in any event, Defendants were entitled to address them to the extent that they were discussed further in Plaintiff’s response. The Court will deny Plaintiff’s motion. except that each party may, at its, his or her option, seek injunctive relief in court related to the improper use, disclosure or misappropriation of a party’s private, proprietary, confidential or trade secret information (“Arbitrable Claims”). Further, to the fullest extent permitted by law, you and the Company agree that no class or collective actions can be asserted in arbitration or otherwise. All claims, whether in arbitration or otherwise, must be brought solely in your or the Company’s individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or collective proceeding. Nothing in this Arbitration and Class Action Waiver section, however, restricts your right to pursue claims in court for any alleged discrimination, harassment, or retaliation arising under the Illinois Human Rights Act, Title VII, or any state or federal anti-discrimination law. Id. The document continues to read, in all caps: SUBJECT TO THE ABOVE PROVISO, THE PARTIES HEREBY WAIVE ANY RIGHTS THEY MAY HAVE TO TRIAL BY JURY IN REGARD TO ARBITRABLE CLAIMS. THE PARTIES FURTHER WAIVE ANY RIGHTS THEY MAY HAVE TO PURSUE OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS OR COLLECTIVE ACTION PERTAINING TO ANY CLAIMS BETWEEN YOU AND THE COMPANY. Id. The Arbitration and Class Action Waiver section concludes with the following: This agreement to arbitrate does not restrict your right to file administrative claims you may bring before any government agency where, as a matter of law, the parties may not restrict the employee’s ability to file such claims (including, but not limited to, the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Labor). However, the parties agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, arbitration shall be the exclusive remedy for the subject matter of such administrative claims. The arbitration shall be conducted in Woodstock, Illinois through JAMS before a single neutral arbitrator, in accordance with the JAMS employment arbitration rules then in effect, provided however, that the FAA, including its procedural provisions for compelling arbitration, shall govern and apply to this arbitration agreement. The JAMS rules may be found and reviewed at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules- employment-arbitration. If you are unable to access these rules, please let me know and I will provide you with a hardcopy. The arbitrator shall issue a written decision that contains the essential findings and conclusions on which the decision is based. If, for any reason, any term of this Arbitration and Class Action Waiver provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable, all other valid terms and conditions herein shall be severable in nature, and remain fully enforceable. Id. (hyperlink removed). On the last page, the document provided that the “offer will remain open until 06/03/2021” and instructed Plaintiff to “sign the enclosed copy of this letter” and “return it” to accept the offer. Id. at 3. It stated further that Plaintiff’s “signature [would] acknowledge that [she] ha[s] read and understood and agreed to the terms and conditions of” the offer letter and any attached documents. Id. The document is signed by Ankit Gupta, CEO. Id. Also on the last page of the document appear Gretchen Martini’s name, a signature, May 30, 2021 as the date of signing, and the following attestation: “I have read and understood this offer letter and hereby acknowledge, accept and agree to the terms as set forth above and further acknowledge that no other commitments were made to me as part of my employment offer except as specifically set forth herein.” Id.; see also ECF No. 15 at 4 (“Plaintiff signed the Offer Letter, represented that she signed the Offer Letter on May 30, 2021, and returned the signed Offer Letter to BHI.”).2

2The filing at ECF No. 15 is entitled “Facts Governing the Bicycle Health Defendants’ Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint or, in the Alternative, Stay All Proceedings.” These facts are provided pursuant to the At the time that Plaintiff signed and returned the offer letter, she “was a resident of the State of Illinois.” ECF No. 15 at 4. At some later time, she moved to Wisconsin. ECF No.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp.
500 U.S. 20 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams
532 U.S. 105 (Supreme Court, 2001)
Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle
556 U.S. 624 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Zurich American Insurance Company v. Watts Industries
417 F.3d 682 (Seventh Circuit, 2005)
Halim v. Great Gatsby's Auction Gallery, Inc.
516 F.3d 557 (Seventh Circuit, 2008)
Caligiuri v. First Colony Life Insurance
742 N.E.2d 750 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2000)
Hoffman v. Deloitte & Touche, LLP
143 F. Supp. 2d 995 (N.D. Illinois, 2001)
Marque Medicos Archer, LLC v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
2018 IL App (1st) 163351 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Martini v. Bicycle Health Inc, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martini-v-bicycle-health-inc-wied-2023.