Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-893.pdf
Page Number: 21

18 

AT&T MOBILITY LLC v. CONCEPCION 

Opinion of the Court 

found  this  scheme  sufficient  to  provide  incentive  for  the 
individual  prosecution  of  meritorious  claims  that  are  not 
immediately  settled,  and  the  Ninth  Circuit  admitted  that
aggrieved  customers  who  filed  claims  would  be  “essen-
tially guarantee[d]” to be made whole, 584 F. 3d, at 856, n. 
9.  Indeed,  the  District  Court  concluded  that  the  Concep-
cions  were  better  off  under  their  arbitration  agreement
with AT&T than they would have been as participants in
a  class  action,  which  “could  take  months,  if  not  years, 
and  which  may  merely  yield  an  opportunity  to  submit  a
claim for recovery of a small percentage of a few dollars.” 
Laster, 2008 WL 5216255, at *12. 

* 

* 

* 
Because it “stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment
and  execution  of  the  full  purposes  and  objectives  of  Con-
gress,” Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U. S. 52, 67 (1941), Cali-
fornia’s Discover Bank rule is preempted by the FAA.  The 
judgment of the Ninth Circuit is reversed, and the case is
remanded  for  further  proceedings  consistent  with  this 
opinion. 

It is so ordered.