Opinion ID: 77119
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Waiver of Trial Rights

Text: 48 The plaintiffs alternatively argue that the DRP and their continued employment under the DRP are ineffective to waive their Seventh Amendment and statutory trial rights, such as access to the courts and the right to a jury trial. They argue that because the DRP states that the employee waive[s] any right to a jury trial, that waiver in the DRP is subject to a heightened knowing and voluntary standard in evaluating the enforcement of their waiver under federal law. 12 49 For numerous reasons, we reject plaintiffs' contention and conclude that the DRP's agreement to arbitrate and waiver of jury trial rights are governed by contract principles and are not subject to the heightened knowing and voluntary standard argued by plaintiffs. First, arbitration contracts covered by the FAA, including the DRP here, are valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law and in equity for revocation of contracts. 9 U.S.C. § 2. As the Supreme Court has recognized, a court can decline to enforce an arbitration agreement under the FAA only if the plaintiffs can point to a generally applicable principle of contract law under which the agreement could be revoked. See Mitsubishi Motors, 473 U.S. at 627, 105 S.Ct. at 3354. Thus, arbitration agreements under the FAA are enforceable absent fraud, duress, or some other misconduct or wrongful act recognized by the law of contracts for revocation of a contract. 50 Second, as the Supreme Court has recognized, a party agreeing to arbitration does not waive any substantive statutory rights; rather, the party simply agrees to submit those rights to an arbitral forum. See id. at 628, 105 S.Ct. at 3354 (By agreeing to arbitrate a statutory claim, a party does not forgo the substantive rights afforded by the statute; it only submits to their resolution in an arbitral, rather than a judicial, forum.); Circuit City, 532 U.S. at 123, 121 S.Ct. at 1313 (The Court has been quite specific in holding that arbitration agreements can be enforced under the FAA without contravening the policies of congressional enactments giving employees specific protection against discrimination prohibited by federal law; as we noted in Gilmer, . . . by agreeing to arbitrate a statutory claim, a party does not forgo the substantive rights afforded by the statute; it only submits to their resolution in an arbitral, rather than a judicial, forum.). 51 Third, as the Fifth Circuit has noted, [t]he Seventh Amendment does not confer the right to a trial, but only the right to have a jury hear the case once it is determined that the litigation should proceed before a court. If the claims are properly before an arbitral forum pursuant to an arbitration agreement, the jury trial right vanishes. American Heritage Life Ins. Co. v. Orr, 294 F.3d 702, 711 (5th Cir.2002) (emphasis added); see also Sydnor v. Conseco Fin. Serv. Corp., 252 F.3d 302, 307 (4th Cir.2001) ([T]he right to a jury trial attaches in the context of judicial proceedings after it is determined that litigation should proceed before a court. Thus, the loss of the right to a jury trial is a necessary and fairly obvious consequence of an agreement to arbitrate. (quotation marks and citation omitted) (emphasis added)); Koveleskie v. SBC Capital Mkts., Inc., 167 F.3d 361, 368 (7th Cir.1999) ([W]e are satisfied, as was the Court in Gilmer, that the arbitral forum adequately protects an employee's statutory rights, both substantively and procedurally.); Seus v. John Nuveen & Co., 146 F.3d 175, 183-84 (3d Cir.1998) (holding that applying a heightened knowing-and-voluntary standard to arbitration agreements would be inconsistent with the FAA and Gilmer ), abrogated on other grounds, Blair v. Scott Specialty Gases, 283 F.3d 595 (3d Cir.2002). Thus, where a party enters into a valid agreement to arbitrate, the party is not entitled to a jury trial or to a judicial forum for covered disputes. 52 Further, as noted earlier, the FAA's plain language is clear that arbitration agreements are enforceable except for state-law grounds for ordinary revocation. 9 U.S.C. § 2. In keeping with this language, this Court has previously applied a standard contract analysis, rather than a heightened knowing and voluntary standard, in evaluating the enforceability of an arbitration agreement. Specifically, this Court has explained that [h]aving made the bargain to arbitrate, the party should be held to it unless Congress itself has evinced an intention to preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for the statutory rights at issue. Thus, unless Congress has clearly expressed an intention to preclude arbitration of the statutory claim, a party is bound by its agreement to arbitrate. Davis v. S. Energy Homes, Inc., 305 F.3d 1268, 1273 (11th Cir.2002) (quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Weeks, 291 F.3d at 1313 (noting that [c]ourts have consistently found that claims arising under federal statutes may be the subject of arbitration agreements and are enforceable under the FAA). 53 We thus conclude that general contract principles govern the enforceability of arbitration agreements and that no heightened knowing and voluntary standard applies, even where the covered claims include federal statutory claims generally involving a jury trial right. 13 Our conclusion is consistent with the decisions of many of our sister circuits. See American Heritage Life Ins., 294 F.3d at 711 (holding that parties' arbitration agreement, which stated that the right to a trial and to a jury were waived, validly waived those trial rights, and rejecting arguments that a heightened clear and unmistakable or voluntary, knowing, and intelligent standard applied to the waiver); Sydnor, 252 F.3d at 307 (holding that the right to a jury trial attaches in the context of judicial proceedings after it is determined that litigation should proceed before a court, and the fact that the parties agreed to waive their right to a jury trial did not require the court to evaluate the arbitration agreement under a more demanding standard); Koveleskie, 167 F.3d at 368 (evaluating arbitration agreement under general contract principles and rejecting Seventh- and Fifth-Amendment waiver arguments because there was no constitutional right to a jury trial for claims subject to the arbitration clause and the arbitral forum adequately protects an employee's substantive and procedural statutory rights); Seus, 146 F.3d at 183-84 (holding that applying a heightened knowing-and-voluntary standard to arbitration agreements would be inconsistent with the FAA and Gilmer ). 14 54 Thus, we proceed to the plaintiffs' final issue in the case — whether the DRP is a binding contract between the plaintiffs and Gulfstream under ordinary Georgia contract law. 15