Opinion ID: 625321
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Running Out the Clock

Text: Finally, Quilloin claims that the arbitration agreement is unconscionable because it would permit Tenet to run out the clock on the statute of limitations. The FTP requires employees to follow several internal steps and procedures before submitting a claim to arbitration; because the FTP only gives Tenet approximate time limits to respond to each step in the procedure, Quilloin argues that the FTP allows Tenet to delay until claims have expired under the statute of limitations. Tenet first responds that any claim regarding the possibility for delay has been mooted because Quilloin tolled the statute of limitations by filing this claim. Tenet contends that there is now no danger of delays running out the clock because Quilloin will be able to bring her claim through either arbitration or litigation with no danger of exceeding the statute of limitations. Mootness implicates our jurisdiction and is thus determined based on Article III justiciability principles. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Barry, 438 U.S. 531, 537, 98 S.Ct. 2923, 57 L.Ed.2d 932 (1978); Jersey Cent. Power & Light Co. v. Lacey Twp., 772 F.2d 1103, 1108 n. 8 (3d Cir.1985). Under Article III[,] judicial power extends only to actual cases and controversies and [a]n actual controversy must be extant at all stages of review.... Turner v. Rogers, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2507, 2514, 180 L.Ed.2d 452 (2011) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Here, the controversy pertains to unconscionability under Pennsylvania law, which measures unconscionability at the time of the contract's making. 13 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. § 2302(a). Although Tenet claims that the arbitration agreement's provision for delay can no longer be unconscionable, it mistakenly measures unconscionability in the present moment, based on what has happened since the contract was signed, rather than based on whether the contract was unconscionable at the time of its formation. Thus, the fact that Quilloin has tolled the statute of limitations in the present instance does not abrogate or in any way moot her claim that the contract was unconscionable at its formation. Turning to the substance of the claim, time limitations in arbitration agreements are substantively unconscionable if they are clearly unreasonable and unduly favorable to the employer. See Nino, 609 F.3d at 202 (quoting Alexander, 341 F.3d at 266). Quilloin contends that the time limits in Nino v. Jewelry Exchange, Inc., presented the mirror image of the time limits here. However, we find Nino to be inapposite. In Nino, the employee was provided with only a five-day window within which to file and preserve a complaint, a window which the court found substantively unconscionable because it was clearly unreasonable.... 609 F.3d at 202-03 (quoting Alexander, 341 F.3d at 266); see also Alexander, 341 F.3d at 266 (finding a time limit of thirty days to be clearly unreasonable and unduly favorable to the employer). These cases involved clearly unreasonable time limits placed on the employee, rather than estimated time limits placed on the employer's response. Quilloin fails to explain how a process allowing an employee the full amount of time permitted under law is unconscionable, even if the employer is given guidelines, rather than strict parameters, within which it may respond. Even if Tenet tried to delay and failed to move forward with proceedings within a reasonable time, Quilloin could have filed a motion to compel arbitration. See, e.g., Allen v. Apollo Group, Inc., No. Civ.A.H-04-3041, 2004 WL 3119918, at  (S.D.Tex. Nov. 9, 2004). Given the existence of reasonable time guidelines for Tenet to act, paired with the fact that Tenet could not preclude Quilloin's claim because she always had the option to motion to compel arbitration, the time guidelines are not clearly unreasonable and unduly favorable to Tenet. See Nino, 609 F.3d at 202 (quoting Alexander, 341 F.3d at 266). We fail to see how, even considering the facts in the light most favorable to Quilloin, there is any genuine dispute of material fact regarding this claim of substantive unconscionability. We find that Quilloin raised no genuine dispute of material fact regarding substantive unconscionability; therefore, the District Court erred by denying Tenet's motion to compel arbitration.