Appellant's Opening Brief, Lambert v. Tesla, 18-15203

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Case: 18-15203, 05/09/2018, ID: 10867641, DktEntry: 8, Page 1 of 54

No. 18-15203
__________________________________________________________________

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DEWITT LAMBERT,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

TESLA, INC., DBA TESLA MOTORS, INC.

Defendant-Appellee.

On Appeal from the United States District Court


for the Northern District of California
No. 3:17-cv-05369
Hon. Vince Chhabria

APPELLANT’S OPENING BRIEF

Lawrence A. Organ (SBN 175503)


California Civil Rights Law Group
332 San Anselmo Ave.,
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415) 453-4740
[email protected]

Attorneys for Appellant


DeWitt Lambert
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CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Appellant is a natural person. Accordingly, he is not required to file any

corporate disclosure statement pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure

26.1.

Date: May 9, 2018

California Civil Rights Law Group

/s/ Lawrence A. Organ


Lawrence A. Organ

Attorney for Appellant

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT ......................................................... i

INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1

JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT ..........................................................................3

STATUTORY AUTHORITIES ................................................................................4

ISSUES PRESENTED...............................................................................................9

STATEMENT OF THE CASE ..................................................................................9

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ......................................................................12

STANDARD OF REVIEW .....................................................................................13

ARGUMENT ...........................................................................................................14

I. The Supreme Court’s Decision in Gilmer Provides the Correct Test


for Determining Whether Arbitration is Appropriate Under Section
1981 .....................................................................................................16

A. Section 118 Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1991 Encourages


Arbitration Only Where Appropriate And To The Extent
Authorized By Law ...................................................................16

B. This And Other Circuits Recognize The Limited Scope Of


Section 118 ................................................................................18

C. This Circuit Has Held That Gilmer Provides The Correct Test
For Determining Whether Arbitration Is Appropriate And
Authorized By Law ...................................................................19

II. Under Gilmer, Section 1981 Claims are Non-Arbitrable ...................20

A. Section 1981’s Text Provides For Federal Judicial


Enforcement, Rather Than Private Arbitration .........................22

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B. Section 1981’s Legislative History Demonstrates Congress’s


Intent Not To Allow A Waiver Of A Judicial Forum...............24

C. Section 1981’s Fundamental Purposes Are Incompatible With


Mandatory Arbitration ..............................................................32

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................41

STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

ADDENDUM

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Page(s)

Cases

Armendariz v. Found. Health Psychcare Servs., Inc.,


24 Cal. 4th 83 (2000) .................................................................................... 19-20
Ashbey v. Archstone Property Management, Inc.,
785 F.3d 1320 (9th Cir. 2015) ......................................................................18, 25
Bailey v. United States,
516 U.S. 137 (1995) ............................................................................................18
Boise Cascade Corp. v. E.P.A.,
942 F.2d 1427 (9th Cir. 1991) ............................................................................17
Carroll v. Gen. Accident Ins. Co. of Am.,
891 F.2d 1174 (5th Cir. 1990) ............................................................................35
Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams,
279 F.3d 889 (9th Cir. 2002) ..............................................................................13

Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc.,


511 U.S. 863 (1994) ..............................................................................................4
E.E.O.C. v. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps,
345 F.3d 742 (9th Cir. 2003) ........................................................................11, 19

Ferguson v. Corinthian Colleges, Inc.,


733 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2013) ........................................................................ 33-34

Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,


331 F.3d 1122 (9th Cir. 2003) ............................................................................36

Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp.,


500 U.S. 20 (1991) .......................................................................................passim

Green Tree Fin. Corp.-Alabama v. Randolph,


531 U.S. 79 (2000) ................................................................................................3

iv
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Harden v. Roadway Package Sys., Inc.,


249 F.3d 1137 (9th Cir. 2001) ............................................................................13

Hearn v. W. Conference of Teamsters Pension Tr. Fund,


68 F.3d 301 (9th Cir. 1995) ................................................................................17

Interactive Flight Techs., Inc. v. Swissair Swiss Air Transp. Co.,


249 F.3d 1177 (9th Cir. 2001) .............................................................................. 4

John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Harris Trust & Sav. Bank,
510 U.S. 86 (1993) ........................................................................................ 17-18

Jones v. Alfred Mayer Co.,


392 U.S. 409 (1968) ............................................................................................24

Miles v. Apex Marine Corp.,


498 U.S. 19 (1990) ..............................................................................................19
Home Ins. Co. of New York v. Morse,
87 U.S. 445 (1874) ..............................................................................................38
Mitsubishi v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth,
473 U.S. 614 (1985) ...................................................................................... 23-24
Nixon v. Warner Comms., Inc.,
435 U.S. 589 (1978) ............................................................................................36
Nw. Forest Res. Council v. Glickman,
82 F.3d 825 (9th Cir. 1996) ................................................................................17
Price v. Pelka,
690 F.2d 98 (6th Cir. 1982) ................................................................................41

Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. v. Lai,


42 F.3d 1299 (9th Cir. 1994) ..............................................................................18
Runyon v. McCrary,
427 U.S. 160 (1976) ......................................................................................25, 33
Skirchak v. Dynamics Research Corp.,
508 F.3d 49 (1st Cir. 2007) ........................................................................... 18-19

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Valley Broad. Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court—D. Nev.,


798 F.2d 1289 (9th Cir. 1986) ............................................................................36

Ziober v. BLB Resources, Inc.,


839 F.3d 814 (9th Cir. 2016) ........................................................................ 22-23

Statutes

28 U.S.C. § 1291 ........................................................................................................3


28 U.S.C. § 1331 ........................................................................................................3

28 U.S.C. § 2107 ........................................................................................................3


42 U.S.C. § 1981 ...............................................................................................passim
Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 .....................................25

Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. ...................................18


Civil Rights Act of 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27-30 (April 9, 1866)
............................................................................................. 4-8, 16, 17, 21, 24, 25
Civil Rights Act of 1870, ch. 114, 16 Stat. 140 (May 31, 1870) .............................22

Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-166, 105 Stat. 1071 (1991)
......................................................................................... 1-2, 8, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20
Declaratory Judgment Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2201 .....................................................3, 10

Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. .........................................................2, 8

Judiciary Act of 1875, 18 Stat. 470 (1875) ..............................................................30


Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7 ...............................................................................23

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38


U.S.C. § 4301 et seq. .................................................................................... 22-23
Other Authorities

Addison C. Burnham, Arbitration as a Condition Precedent, 11


HARV. L. REV. 234 (1897) ...................................................................................23

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Adjoa Artis Aiyetoro, Truth Matters: A Call for the American Bar
Association to Acknowledge Its Past and Make Reparations to
African Descendants, 18 GEO. MASON U. CIV. RTS. L.J. 51 (2007)................... 28

Alexander J.S. Colvin, ECON. POL. INST, The growing use of


mandatory arbitration: Access to the courts is now barred for
more than 60 million American workers (2017).................................................32

Amy J. Schmitz, Untangling the Privacy Paradox in Arbitration, U.


KAN. L. REV. 1211 (2006) ..................................................................................34

Cong. Globe, 39th Cong. 1st Sess. (1866) ............................................. 26-27, 30, 34
Danielle Tarantolo, From Employment to Contract: Section 1981 and
Antidiscrimination Law for the Independent Contractor Workforce,
116 Yale L.J. 170 (2006) .............................................................................. 30-31

Edward Brunet, Arbitration and Constitutional Rights,


71 N.C. L. REV. 81 (1992) .......................................................................34, 37, 38

Geraldine Szott Moohr, Arbitration and the Goals of Employment


Discrimination Law, 56 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 395 (1999) .........................35, 36

Ian R. Macniel et al., AGREEMENTS, AWARDS AND REMEDIES UNDER


THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT (1995) ............................................................. 23

Ian R. Macniel, AMERICAN ARBITRATION LAW: REFORM,


NATIONALIZATION, INTERNATIONALIZATION (1992) ...........................................23
Jacobus tenBroek, EQUAL UNDER LAW (1965)............................................26, 29, 33
Jean Sternlight, Compelling Arbitration Claims Under the Civil Rights
Act of 1866: What Congress Could Not Have Intended, 47 KAN. L.
REV. 273 (1999) ..................................................................................................31

Laurie Kratky Doré, Public Courts Versus Private Justice: It’s Time
to Let Some Sun Shine in on Alternative Dispute Resolution, 81
CHI.-KENT L. REV. 463, 490 (2006) ............................................................. 35-36

Mark Tushnet, The Lawyer/Judge As Republican Hero, 70 STAN. L.


REV. ONLINE 29 (2017) ................................................................................. 27-28

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Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Judicial Conference of the District of


Columbia Circuit, 105 F.R.D. 251 (1984). ...................................................28, 29

Robert J. Kaczorowski, Congress’s Power to Enforce Fourteenth


Amendment Rights: Lessons from Federal Remedies the Framers
Enacted, 42 HARV. J. ON LEGIS. 187 (2005) ................................................. 25-26

Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Part IV: Florida,


Louisiana, Texas, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. (1866)..................................................31
Stephanie Brenowitz, Deadly Secrecy: The Erosion of Public
Information Under Private Justice, 19 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL.
679, 682 (2004) ............................................................................................. 36-37

Taja-Nia Y. Henderson, Dignity Contradictions: Reconstruction As


Restoration, 92 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 1135, 1149–50 (2017)....................28, 29, 32

Terry S. Kogan, A Neo-Federalist Tale of Personal Jurisdiction, 63 S.


CAL. L. REV. 257, 313 (1990) .............................................................................28

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INTRODUCTION

In 1866, Congress confronted widespread efforts by the dominant white

community to exclude the newly-freed slaves from the national economy through

private contract. White supremacists had hoped to accomplish by private

agreement what they could not accomplish by public law. In response, Congress

enacted 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which gives all persons the right to sue in federal court

to protect their “enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the

contractual relationship” as is “enjoyed by white citizens.” § 1981(a), (b).

Section 1981 made two radical changes to previous contract law. First,

Congress determined that discriminatory contracts were subject to the control of

the demos, rather than the private party with the most bargaining power.

Discrimination henceforth would not be a matter of private, even secret, choice,

but instead a matter of public concern. Second, Congress placed jurisdiction for

oversight in the federal judiciary—not the States, and certainly not other private

parties. After all, if the party with the most bargaining power could pick its own

private judge by the same discriminatory contract, then Section 1981 was a dead

letter.

Seven score and five years later, Congress passed Section 118 as part of the

Civil Rights Act of 1991. The Act states, in part, “Where appropriate and to the

extent authorized by law, the use of . . . arbitration is encouraged” to resolve civil


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rights disputes. Pub. L. No. 102-166, § 118, 105 Stat. 1071, 1081 (1991). But, as

explained below, arbitration is neither appropriate nor authorized by law with

regard to claims under Section 1981.

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson

Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20 (1991) (hereinafter, “Gilmer”), provides the test for

determining whether arbitration is appropriate for a statutory claim. It held that “all

statutory claims may not be appropriate for arbitration.” Id. at 26. To determine if a

statute’s claims are appropriate for arbitration, courts look to the statute’s text,

legislative history, and fundamental purposes.

The text of the 1866 Act suggests a congressional intent not to allow waiver

of judicial forum. Congress enacted Section 1981 six decades before the Federal

Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., at a time of universal judicial

hostility to arbitration and in response to the failure of the quasi-arbitral

Freedmen’s Bureau tribunals. Had Congress intended to allow waiver of a judicial

forum in contravention of the prevailing norms of the time, it would have done so.

Moreover, contemporaneous statements of legislators show that the Act

intended to create federal judicial oversight, not private arbitration, of

discrimination in private contracting. Finally, arbitration would undermine the

fundamental purpose of Section 1981, which is to subject discriminatory private

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contracting to public scrutiny, if parties could privately contract for their own

oversight.

Plaintiff and Appellant DeWitt Lambert seeks to have his Section 1981

claims for racial discrimination heard in federal court, as has been the right of all

persons in the United States since 1866. Accordingly, Mr. Lambert requests that

this court reverse its decision compelling arbitration and remand to the District

Court for trial.

JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT

This is an appeal from the final judgment of a United States district court;

this Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. As Plaintiff has brought

claims under federal statutes, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Declaratory Judgment Act,

22 U.S.C. § 2201, the district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

The district court’s final order, dismissing all claims in the case, was entered on

January 8, 2018. Plaintiff filed his notice of appeal on February 7, 2018, making

the appeal timely under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a).

The Federal Arbitration Act provides for an “immediate appeal of any ‘final

decision with respect to an arbitration,’ regardless of whether the decision is

favorable or hostile to arbitration.” Green Tree Fin. Corp.-Alabama v. Randolph,

531 U.S. 79, 86 (2000). A final decision is one that “ends the litigation on the

merits and leaves nothing more for the court to do but execute the judgment.”

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Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U.S. 863, 867 (1994)

(internal citations omitted). This includes an order dismissing an action

“notwithstanding that the dismissal was in favor of arbitration,” even if “the parties

could later return to the court to enter judgment on an arbitration award.”

Interactive Flight Techs., Inc. v. Swissair Swiss Air Transp. Co., 249 F.3d 1177,

1179 (9th Cir. 2001).

STATUTORY AUTHORITIES

42 U.S.C. § 1981

(a) Statement of Equal Rights. All persons within the jurisdiction of the United
States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal
benefit of all laws and proceerity of persons and property as is enjoyed by
white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties,
taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other.
(b) “Make and enforce contracts defined.” For purposes of this section, the term
“make and enforce contracts” includes the making, performance,
modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits,
privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship.
(c) Protection against impairment. The rights protected by this section are
protected against impairment by nongovernmental discrimination and
impairment under color of State law.

Civil Rights Act of 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27 (April 9, 1866)

An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights, and furnish
the Means of their Vindication.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of


America in Congress assembled, That all persons born in the United States and not
subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to
be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without
regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a
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punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have
the same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease,
sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of
all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by
white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to
none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary
notwithstanding.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person who, under color of any law,
statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected,
any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured or
protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, or penalties on account of
such person having at any time been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, or by reason of his color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment
of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction,
shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not
exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the district courts of the United States,
within their respective districts, shall have, exclusively of the courts of the several
States, cognizance of all crimes and offences committed against the provisions of
this act, and also, concurrently with the circuit courts of the United States, of all
causes, civil and criminal, affecting persons who are denied or cannot enforce in
the courts or judicial tribunals of the State or locality where they may be any of the
rights secured to them by the first section of this act; and if any suit or prosecution,
civil or criminal, has been or shall be commenced in any State court, against any
such person, for any cause whatsoever, or against any officer, civil or military, or
other person, for any arrest or imprisonment, trespasses, or wrongs done or
committed by virtue or under color of authority derived from this act or the act
establishing a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and all acts
amendatory thereof, or for refusing to do any act upon the ground that it would be
inconsistent with this act, such defendant shall have the right to remove such cause
for trial to the proper district or circuit court in the manner prescribed by the “Act
relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial proceedings in certain cases,”
approved March three, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and all acts amendatory
thereof. The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters hereby conferred on the
district and circuit courts of the United States shall be exercised and enforced in
conformity with the laws of the United States, so far as such laws are suitable to

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carry the same into effect; but in all cases where such laws are not adapted to the
object, or are deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable remedies and
punish offences against law, the common law, as modified and changed by the
constitution and statutes of the State wherein the court having jurisdiction of the
cause, civil or criminal, is held, so far as the same is not inconsistent with the
Constitution and laws of the United States, shall be extended to and govern said
courts in the trial and disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal nature, in the
infliction of punishment on the party found guilty.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, marshals, and deputy
marshals of the United States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and
territorial courts of the United States, with powers of arresting, imprisoning, or
bailing offenders against the laws of the United States, the officers and agents of
the Freedmen’s Bureau, and every other officer who may be specially empowered
by the President of the United States, shall be, and they are hereby, specially
authorized and required, at the expense of the United States, to institute
proceedings against all and every person who shall violate the provisions of this
act, and cause him or them to be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case
may be, for trial before such court of the United States or territorial court as by this
act has cognizance of the offence. And with a view to affording reasonable
protection to all persons in their constitutional rights of equality before the law,
without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this act, it shall be the duty
of the circuit courts of the United States and the superior courts of the Territories
of the United States, from time to time, to increase the number of commissioners,
so as to afford a speedy and convenient means for the arrest and examination of
persons charged with a violation of this act; and such commissioners are hereby
authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties
conferred on them by this act, and the same duties with regard to offences created
by this act, as they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other offences
against the laws of the United States.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and
deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the
provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy
marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other process when tendered, or to use all
proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be
fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of the person upon whom the
accused is alleged to have committed the offense. And the better to enable the said

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commissioners to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with


the Constitution of the United States and the requirements of this act, they are
hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in
writing, under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to
execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful
performance of their respective duties; and the persons so appointed to execute any
warrant or process as aforesaid shall have authority to summon and call to their aid
the bystanders or posse comitatus of the proper county, or such portion of the land
or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as may be necessary to the
performance of the duty with which they are charged, and to insure a faithful
observance of the clause of the Constitution which prohibits slavery, in conformity
with the provisions of this act; and said warrants shall run and be executed by said
officers anywhere in the State or Territory within which they are issued.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and
wilfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent any officer, or other person charged with the
execution of any warrant or process issued under the provisions of this act, or any
person or persons lawfully assisting him or them, from arresting any person for
whose apprehension such warrant or process may have been issued, or shall rescue
or attempt to rescue such person from the custody of the officer, other person or
persons, or those lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to the
authority herein given and declared, or shall aid, abet, or assist any person so
arrested as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from the custody of the
officer or other person legally authorized as aforesaid, or shall harbor or conceal
any person for whose arrest a warrant or process shall have been issued as
aforesaid, so as to prevent his discovery and arrest after notice or knowledge of the
fact that a warrant has been issued for the apprehension of such person, shall, for
either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and
imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the
district court of the United States for the district in which said offense may have
been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed
within any one of the organized Territories of the United States.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, the marshals, their
deputies, and the clerks of the said district and territorial courts shall be paid for
their services the like fees as may be allowed to them for similar services in other
cases; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall
be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, inclusive of all
services incident to such arrest and examination. The person or persons authorized
to execute the process to be issued by such commissioners for the arrest of

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offenders against the provisions of this act shall be entitled to a fee of five dollars
for each person he or they may arrest and take before any such commissioner as
aforesaid, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such
commissioner for such other additional services as may be necessarily performed
by him or them, such as attending at the examination, keeping the prisoner in
custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and until
the final determination of such commissioner, and in general for performing such
other duties as may be required in the premises; such fees to be made up in
conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice
within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid out of
the Treasury of the United States on the certificate of the judge of the district
within which the arrest is made, and to be recoverable from the defendant as part
of the judgment in case of conviction.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That whenever the President of the United States
shall have reason to believe that offences have been or are likely to be committed
against the provisions of this act within any judicial district, it shall be lawful for
him, in his discretion, to direct the judge, marshal, and district attorney of such
district to attend at such place within the district, and for such time as he may
designate, for the purpose of the more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged
with a violation of this act; and it shall be the duty of every judge or other officer,
when any such requisition shall be received by him, to attend at the place and for
the time therein designated.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the President of the
United States, or such person as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such
part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be
necessary to prevent the violation and enforce the due execution of this act.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That upon all questions of law arising in any
cause under the provisions of this act a final appeal may be taken to the Supreme
Court of the United States.

Section 118 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-166, 105 Stat. 107

Where appropriate and to the extent authorized by law, the use of alternative
means of dispute resolution, including settlement negotiations, conciliation,
facilitation, mediation, factfinding, minitrials, and arbitration, is encouraged to
resolve disputes arising under the Acts or provisions of Federal law amended by
this title.

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ISSUES PRESENTED

1. Whether the district court erred in interpreting Section 118 of the

Civil Rights Act of 1991 as an unqualified endorsement of arbitration in all

contexts, instead of requiring the application of the Gilmer test to the underlying

statute, Section 1981.

2. Whether claims arising under the Civil Rights Act of 1866 are

appropriate for arbitration under Gilmer, in light of Congress’s unqualified

rejection of pseudo-arbitration as a means of vindicating civil rights, its

exceptional grant of federal jurisdiction over all claims arising under the Act, and

the Act’s stated goals of guaranteeing plaintiffs access to the federal courts and

deterring discrimination.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant DeWitt Lambert’s (“Appellant” or “Mr. Lambert”) alleged the

following in his Complaint. ER 108. He moved across the United States from

Alabama to the Bay Area, believing that the move would offer him an opportunity

to advance in his career. ER 109. When he applied for, and was offered, a job with

Defendant Tesla, Inc. (“Appellee” or “Tesla”), an automobile manufacturing

company that presents itself as progressive, he was thrilled. ER 111. He eagerly

accepted the job, signing a contract with Tesla. Included in Mr. Lambert’s contract

was an arbitration provision. ER 111.


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Unfortunately, in the course of his employment at Tesla, Mr. Lambert was

subjected to a pattern of harassment and discrimination based on his African-

American ancestry. ER 112. Specifically, Mr. Lambert’s coworkers and

supervisors frequently referred to Mr. Lambert as a “nigger,” physically assaulted

him, and insulted him. ER 112. When Mr. Lambert complained to Tesla’s upper

management and human resources department, Tesla not only failed to stop the

harassment, but rewarded his harassers with promotions while punishing Mr.

Lambert. ER 113-114.

As a result of the above, on September 15, 2017, Mr. Lambert filed suit

against Tesla in the United States District Court for the Northern District of

California, alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1981’s prohibition on race

discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts, including in

employment. ER 108. Mr. Lambert also brought a claim under the Declaratory

Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, seeking a declaration by the district court that

claims brought under Section 1981 are non-arbitrable. ER 108.

On October 30, 2017, Tesla moved to dismiss Mr. Lambert’s complaint with

prejudice, or, in the alternative, to compels the matter to arbitration. ER 91. Tesla

asserted that the arbitration agreement Mr. Lambert had signed was enforceable

and not unconscionable. E.g., ER 99.

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Opposing Tesla’s motion to dismiss, and simultaneously moving for partial

summary judgment as to his Declaratory Judgment Act Claim, Mr. Lambert argued

that the unique history of Section 1981, passed as part of the Civil Rights Act of

1866, rendered it inappropriate for arbitration under the test set forth in Gilmer v.

Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20 (1991). ER 61. Specifically, Mr.

Lambert argued that the statute’s legislative history manifested an intent not to

allow waiver of a judicial forum, and that its fundamental purposes were

inconsistent with mandatory arbitration. ER 61-73.

On November 27, 2017, Tesla filed an opposition to Mr. Lambert’s motion

for partial summary judgment. ER 33. In support of its position, Tesla cited to the

Ninth Circuit’s decision in E.E.O.C. v. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, 345

F.3d 742 (9th Cir. 2003), interpreting Section 118 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991,

which Tesla argued “encouraged” arbitration. ER 43. Mr. Lambert filed his reply

on December 4, 2017. ER 13. He argued that Section 118 does not encourage

arbitration in all cases, and that the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Luce held that

Section 118 incorporates the Gilmer analysis and requires its application to the

underlying statutes it amended. ER 21-23. Mr. Lambert then addressed mandatory

arbitration’s conflict with Section 1981’s fundamental purposes. ER 24-28.

On January 1, 2018, in a one-page order, the district court granted Tesla’s

motion to compel arbitration, and dismissed the case. ER 11. The court cited to

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Luce, where this Circuit found Title VII claims to be arbitrable, and concluded that

Section 1981 claims are appropriate for arbitration as well. In support of this

reasoning, the court invoked Section 118’s text: “[w]here appropriate and to the

extent authorized by law . . . arbitration[ ] is encouraged to resolve disputes arising

under” the statutes amended by the 1991 Act. ER 11 (quoting 105 Stat. 1071 §

118). Looking to the second clause, it concluded that arbitration is “encouraged”

for Section 1981 claims, as that statute was amended by the 1991 Act. ER 11-12.

Finally, the court recognized that there are significant differences between Title

VII and Section 1981, but stated simply “these differences do not justify departing

from the reasoning of Luce, Forward.” ER 12.

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT

The district court erred in failing to give full effect to the text of Section 118

of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which limits arbitration to claims where it is

“appropriate” and “authorized by law.” 105 Stat. 1071 § 118. Precedent from this

and other circuits compel the conclusion that Section 118 does not operate as an

unqualified endorsement of arbitration.

Instead, Section 118 requires an application of the three-part test set forth in

Gilmer to the underlying statute. Under Gilmer, courts look to the (1) text, (2)

legislative history, and (3) fundamental purposes of a statute to determine whether

there is a congressional intent to preclude waiver of a judicial forum.

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The text of Section 1981 does not support arbitrability of those claims. The

Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed at a time of universal judicial hostility to

mandatory, private arbitration, and prior to the Federal Arbitration Act. Had

Congress intended to contravene the consensus at the time against waiver of a

judicial forum, it would have made this explicit. Rather than allow waiver, Section

1981 understandably places authority in the federal courts.

Second, Section 1981’s legislative history evinces a clear intent not to allow

waiver of a judicial forum. Congress’s intent is made even clearer considering the

state of affairs in the South, of which it was well aware.

Finally, the underlying purposes of the statute, direct enforcement of civil

rights through the federal courts and general deterrence of racial discrimination,

cannot be reconciled with arbitration. Indeed, the statute could not operate at all if

the same contract alleged to be discriminatory could be used to require the

aggrieved party into arbitration.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A district court’s order compelling arbitration is reviewed de novo. See

Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 279 F.3d 889, 892 n.2 (9th Cir. 2002); Harden

v. Roadway Package Sys., Inc., 249 F.3d 1137, 1140 (9th Cir. 2001).

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ARGUMENT

The district court erred in holding that Section 1981 claims are arbitrable for

two significant reasons. First, Section 118 contains the limiting language,

“appropriate and to the extent authorized by law.” 105 Stat. 1071 § 118.

Accordingly, it does not render arbitrable all claims brought under statutes

amended by the 1991 Act; instead, it compels courts to apply the test set forth in

Gilmer to the underlying statute.

Second, the district court did not apply Gilmer to the underlying statute,

Section 1981, as required under Section 118. Section 1981’s text, legislative

history, and fundamental purposes all weigh against finding arbitration

“appropriate” and “authorized by law.” The context surrounding the drafting and

enactment of Section 1981 shows that, as it was passed before the FAA, Congress

would have provided for waiver of a judicial forum had it intended to allow it.

Section 1981 is a law unlike any other civil rights statute, enacted

specifically because Congress sought to provide African American employees a

federal forum from which to escape the tendency of private contract to interfere

with their ability to enforce their rights. In addition, throughout the Act’s

legislative history, members of Congress repeatedly emphasized the importance of

access to a federal judicial forum.

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Finally, Section 1981’s fundamental purposes cannot be squared with

arbitration. The purpose of the 1866 Act was to allow direct enforcement of civil

rights through the federal judiciary. Private, mandatory arbitration is a creature of

contract, and neither a judicial forum nor a function of the federal government.

Moreover, Section 1981 specifically guarantees the right to be free of

discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts; a method of dispute

resolution required by an allegedly discriminatory contract cannot effectuate an

employee’s rights to be free of that discrimination.

Furthermore, arbitration’s opacity eviscerates Section 1981’s deterrent

effect. Regardless of whether a given arbitration contains a non-disclosure

agreement, arbitration hearings and records are not publicly available, precluding

effective coverage by the press. This stands in stark contrast to a federal judicial

forum, in which there is a strong presumption in favor of the public availability of

information and the corresponding deterrent effect of these public proceedings.

Comparisons of Section 1981’s fundamental purposes to those of post-

Reconstruction civil rights statutes are misguided. Most notably, unlike statutes

enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), Section

1981 is enforced solely by private individuals and not by government agencies.

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I. THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN GILMER PROVIDES THE


CORRECT TEST FOR DETERMINING WHETHER ARBITRATION
IS APPROPRIATE UNDER SECTION 1981

In Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20 (1991) the Supreme

Court explained that “all statutory claims may not be appropriate for arbitration.”

Id. at 26. A statutory claim is inappropriate for arbitration where an intention not to

allow waiver of a judicial forum is “discoverable in the text of [the statute], its

legislative history, or an ‘inherent conflict’ between arbitration and the [statute’s]

underlying purposes.” Id.

Section 118 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (“1991 Act” or “Civil Rights

Act of 1991”) provides that “where appropriate and to the extent authorized by

law” arbitration of civil rights disputes is “encouraged.” 105 Stat. 1071 § 118. In

doing so, it requires courts to apply the Gilmer test to all statutes amended under

the 1991 Act, including Section 1981.

The court below erred in finding Section 1981 claims arbitrable under

Section 118 because it failed to consider the first half of the sentence. The district

court’s approach conflicts with traditional rules of statutory interpretation, this and

other circuits’ interpretation of other parts of Section 118, and this Court’s

interpretation of Section 118’s limiting language “to the extent authorized by law.”

A. Section 118 Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1991 Encourages


Arbitration Only Where Appropriate And To The Extent Authorized
By Law

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Section 118 encourages arbitration in the civil rights context only “where

appropriate and to the extent authorized by law.” 105 Stat. 1071 § 118. When

interpreting a statute, a court must “give significance to all of its parts.” Boise

Cascade Corp. v. E.P.A., 942 F.2d 1427, 1432 (9th Cir. 1991). It should construe

the statute so as not “to make surplusage of any provision.” Nw. Forest Res.

Council v. Glickman, 82 F.3d 825, 834 (9th Cir. 1996). Here, the District Court

relied wholly on the phrase “is encouraged,” which fails to give significance to all

of Section 118’s parts. If Section 118 were a congressional approval of arbitration

of civil rights claims across the board, then “where appropriate and to the extent

authorized by law” would be surplusage.

The rule against surplusage extends with particular force to qualifying

language. Where, as here, “the language in question cuts back or qualifies other

language that sweeps very broadly, there's a particularly strong inference that the

legislature employed the qualifier to limit the more general language in some

meaningful way.” Hearn v. W. Conference of Teamsters Pension Tr. Fund, 68 F.3d

301, 304 (9th Cir. 1995).

Considering the phrase “is encouraged” in isolation also contravenes the

principle that courts should not rely upon “a single sentence or member of a

sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.”

John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Harris Trust & Sav. Bank, 510 U.S. 86, 94-95

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(1993); see also Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 145 (1995) (explaining that

courts should “consider not only the bare meaning of the word, but also its

placement and purpose in the statutory scheme.”).

Applying these principles, Section 118 “encourages” arbitration only in

limited circumstances: where authorized by law, as determined by a Gilmer

analysis of the underlying statute.

B. This And Other Circuits Recognize The Limited Scope Of Section


118

This Circuit has already given effect to the limiting language of Section 118.

In Ashbey v. Archstone Property Management, Inc., 785 F.3d 1320 (9th Cir. 2015),

this Court explicitly stated that Section 118 is not “an unfettered endorsement of

alternative dispute resolutions.” Id. at 1323. Instead, “such resolutions are

permissible only ‘where appropriate.’” Id.; see also Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. v.

Lai, 42 F.3d 1299, 1305 (9th Cir. 1994).

Other circuits have taken a similar approach. Likewise, in Skirchak v.

Dynamics Research Corp., 508 F.3d 49 (1st Cir. 2007), the First Circuit interpreted

Section 118’s phrase “where appropriate” as requiring a knowing waiver of the

right to a trial. It explained: “Under Title VII and the [Americans with Disabilities

Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (“ADA”)], we have applied an independent federal

scrutiny of the adequacy of the notice of waiver of judicial rights because in the

language of these statutes Congress referred to ‘appropriate’ waivers.” Id. at 58-59.

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The Skirchak court expanded on its rationale by stating that Section 118 “expressly

cabin[s] [its] endorsement[ ] of arbitration in cases covered by those statutes by

providing that ‘[w]here appropriate and to the extent authorized by law, the use of

alternative means of dispute resolution, including . . . arbitration, is encouraged.’”

Id. at 58–59 n.5 (emphasis added).

C. This Circuit Has Held That Gilmer Provides The Correct Test For
Determining Whether Arbitration Is Appropriate And
Authorized By Law

Six months before Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the

Supreme Court issued its decision in Gilmer. The Court held that some statutory

claims can be compelled to arbitration—but where Congress has an intent not to

allow waiver of a judicial forum, the claim is non-arbitrable. Courts must “assume

that Congress is aware of existing law when it passes legislation.” Miles v. Apex

Marine Corp., 498 U.S. 19, 32 (1990).

This Circuit held in Luce that Section 118’s limiting language is a reference

to Gilmer’s analysis: “Gilmer was decided in May 1991 and the 1991 Act was not

enacted until November of that year. During this intervening six months, Congress

surely became aware that Gilmer, and not Alexander, provided the Supreme

Court’s prevailing assessment of employment arbitration agreements.” Luce, 345

F.3d at 751-52; see also Armendariz v. Found. Health Psychcare Servs., Inc., 24

Cal. 4th 83, 96 (2000) (“[A]t the time Congress passed the 1991 Act, Gilmer was

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the law. Congress must be presumed to have been aware of Gilmer when it used

the phrase ‘to the extent authorized by law.’”). 1

Section 118 therefore means that arbitration is encouraged when

“authorized by law” under the Gilmer analysis, not in all situations without

differentiation or independent analysis. The plain text of the statute encourages

arbitration only where “appropriate” and “to the extent authorized by law.” 105

Stat. 1071 § 118. Neither the text of the statute nor its legislative history evinces a

congressional intent to allow waiver of a judicial forum.

In conducting its analysis, this Court should apply the Gilmer test to the

underlying statute, Section 1981 as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, not to

Section 118. If Section 118 incorporates the Gilmer analysis, finding that

arbitration is “encouraged” or even “authorized by law” by reference to Section

118 itself defeats the purpose of the section by creating a self-referential loop in

which no real Gilmer analysis is ever conducted.

II. UNDER GILMER, SECTION 1981 CLAIMS ARE NON-


ARBITRABLE

The Gilmer test shows that claims under Section 1981 are not “appropriate”

or “authorized by law” for arbitration. To determine whether Congress has

1
Luce did not accomplish what the district court believes it did. In Luce this
Circuit focused on the question: does Section 118 preclude arbitration of Title VII
claims? It concluded that Section 118 does not preclude arbitration; but it did not
hold that Section 118 encourages arbitration.
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manifested an intent not to allow waiver of a judicial forum, courts look to the

statute’s (1) text; (2) legislative history; and (3) fundamental purposes. 500 U.S. at

26 (“If such an intention exists, it will be discoverable in the text of the [the

statute], its legislative history, or an ‘inherent conflict’ between arbitration and the

[statute’s] underlying purpose.”).

The text of Section 1981 indicates that arbitration is not appropriate or

authorized by law for those claims. It was enacted well prior to the FAA, at a time

when arbitration was rare, and courts unanimously refused to compel parties to

participate in it. Given this context, had Congress wanted to allow out-of-court

resolution of claims, it would have made explicit an intent to allow parties to

contract out of the federal judicial forum it so exceptionally provided. Instead of

allowing arbitration, however, the text of the 1866 Act specifically affords a

federal forum.

The second prong—the legislative history—weighs against allowing

arbitration because the legislative history reveals that Congress had no intention of

allowing any waiver of a federal judicial forum. Finally, the fundamental purposes

of Section 1981 cannot be reconciled with arbitration. Comparisons to the

legislative history or fundamental purposes of Title VII and other civil rights

statutes are inappropriate, as Section 1981’s enforcement mechanisms and

purposes are unique.

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A. Section 1981’s Text Provides For Federal Judicial Enforcement,


Rather Than Private Arbitration

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 applies, by its own terms, to “[a]ll persons

within the jurisdiction of the United States” and has been enforced throughout its

history in the courts of the United States. Civil Rights Act of 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat.

27 (April 9, 1866) (extending rights to “all citizens” of the United States); Civil

Rights Act of 1870, ch. 114, 16 Stat. 140 (May 31, 1870) (amending the 1866 Act

to protect “[a]ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States”). The method

of enforcement prescribed by Congress was suit brought in the federal courts: “The

district courts of the United States shall have, exclusively of the courts of the

several States, cognizance of all crimes and offences [sic] committed against the

provisions of this act. . . .” 14 Stat. 27 § 3. It made no provision for arbitration or

alternative dispute resolution.

In 1866, courts universally refused to enforce mandatory arbitration

agreements, and such agreements were therefore rare. Congress would have made

clear its intent to depart from those prevailing norms. Courts have commonly

considered whether a statute was enacted before, or after, the Federal Arbitration

Act, and whether arbitration was commonplace at the time of enactment, when

applying Gilmer. See, e.g., Gilmer, 500 U.S. at 26-33; see also Ziober v. BLB

Resources, Inc., 839 F.3d 814, 817 (9th Cir. 2016) (taking into consideration, in

challenge to arbitration of claims under Uniformed Services Employment and

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Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq., that the statute had been

enacted after FAA at a time when arbitration was common).

Section 1981 was enacted long before the FAA, and at a time when

arbitration agreements were uncommon: Section 1981 became law in 1866; the

FAA was not passed until 1925. In addition, at the time Section 1981 was passed,

courts broadly refused to enforce contractual agreements to resolve disputes by

private arbitration. See Ian R. Macniel, AMERICAN ARBITRATION LAW: REFORM,

NATIONALIZATION, INTERNATIONALIZATION 15 (1992); Ian R. Macniel et al., 1

FEDERAL ARBITRATION LAW: AGREEMENTS, AWARDS AND REMEDIES UNDER THE

FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT 4:7 (1995); see generally Addison C. Burnham,

Arbitration as a Condition Precedent, 11 HARV. L. REV. 234 (1897) (advocating

reversal of trend among courts to refuse to treat participation in contracted-for

arbitration as a condition precedent to litigation). Parties who brought suit in court

instead of proceeding with alternative dispute resolution did not face dismissal in

favor of arbitration. See Macneil et al., supra at 4:7; see generally Burnham, supra

at 234. 2

2
There has been only one instance in which a pre-FAA statute was found
arbitrable: the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7, in Mitsubishi v. Soler Chrysler-
Plymouth, 473 U.S. 614 (1985). However, the Mitsubishi decision has little
applicability here, as the Supreme Court based its reasoning largely on the
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The
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Later interpretations of the 1866 Act change nothing, as a court’s analysis of

a statute does not alter its text or legislative history. In Jones v. Alfred Mayer Co.,

392 U.S. 409 (1968), the Supreme Court considered whether claims under Section

1982, enacted along with Section 1981 as part of the 1866 Act, applied to private,

and not just governmental, actors. In finding in the affirmative, Jones relied on the

1866 Act’s legislative history. Id. at 427-436. Jones did not alter the Act; rather, it

found that the intent had been to apply the law to private actors from the time of its

enactment. Jones could also not have “amended” the 1866 Act to allow waiver of a

judicial forum, regardless of when the case was decided: the Court was never

presented with the question of an employee could waive a judicial forum for

Section 1981 claims.

B. Section 1981’s Legislative History Demonstrates Congress’s


Intent Not To Allow A Waiver Of A Judicial Forum

This Court should also look to the legislative history and fundamental

purposes of Section 1981. This is the approach endorsed, and used, by the Supreme

Court in Gilmer. There, it considered arbitration of claims under the Age

Court explained that arbitration awards in some Sherman Act cases were
enforceable only due to “concerns of international comity, respect for the
capacities of foreign and transnational tribunals, and sensitivity to the need of the
international commercial system for predictability in the resolution of disputes.”
Id. at 629. Mitusbishi’s policy concerns do not apply in this case.

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Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 (“ADEA”). See 500 U.S. at

26-33. Gilmer held that ADEA claims were appropriate for arbitration—but only

after taking into consideration the statute’s text, legislative history, and

fundamental purposes. Id. This Circuit has followed suit in other contexts. See

Ashbey, 785 F.3d 1320 (9th Cir. 2015) (interpreting Section 118 by looking both to

its text and legislative history).

The 1866 Act’s legislative history, unlike that of the ADEA, supports a

finding that arbitration is not appropriate or authorized by law for Section 1981

claims. In passing Section 1981, Congress went to extraordinary lengths to allow

employees to vindicate their rights in a federal court, and rejected prior efforts to

enforce civil rights through the pseudo-arbitration of the Freedmen’s Bureau

tribunals. Given this legislative history Congress could not have intended to allow

waiver of a judicial forum for Section 1981 claims.

1. Congress Went To Exceptional Lengths To Provide A


Federal Judicial Forum

Congress’s goal in passing Section 1981 was to create a statute establishing

the direct federal protection of rights, the first law of its kind. See Runyon v.

McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 (1976) (noting that the “right of individuals to bring suits

in Federal [sic] courts to redress individual acts of discrimination, including

employment discrimination[,] was first provided by” Section 1981); Robert J.

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Kaczorowski, Congress's Power to Enforce Fourteenth Amendment Rights:

Lessons from Federal Remedies the Framers Enacted, 42 HARV. J. ON LEGIS. 187,

204 (2005) (explaining that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 “conferred jurisdiction on

the federal courts to dispense ordinary civil and criminal justice, traditionally

administered by the states.”). Congress believed “the way to implement the

Thirteenth Amendment was to protect men in their ‘civil rights and immunities’

and to do so directly through the national government.” Jacobus tenBroek, EQUAL

UNDER LAW 178 (1965) (emphasis added).

Numerous legislators emphasized the need for federal governmental action

to protect Black employees—something they would not have done if they intended

to allow a waiver of it. For example, Representative James Wilson, speaking in

favor of the 1866 Act, rose to say, “The power is with us to provide the necessary

protective remedies .... They must be provided by the government of the United

States, whose duty it is to protect the citizen in return for the allegiance he owes to

the Government.” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 1294 (1866). Elsewhere, he

explained:

If citizens of the United States, as such, are entitled to possess and


enjoy the great fundamental civil rights which it is the true office of
Government to protect,” then Congress “must of necessity be clothed
with the power to insure to each and every citizen these things which
belong to him as a constituent member of the great national family.”

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Id. at 1118. Important to Congress was not only a federal remedy, but a federal

judicial remedy. Likewise, Senator John Sherman remarked, “To say that a man is

a freeman and yet is not able to assert and maintain his right in a court of justice is

a negation of terms.” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 41 (1866) (statement of

Sen. Sherman). Similarly, Representative Eli Thayer emphasized the significance

of entrusting enforcement to the federal judiciary, allowing plaintiffs to vindicate

their rights “through the quiet, dignified, firm, and constitutional forms of judicial

procedure.” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 1153 (1866) (statement of Rep.

Thayer) (emphasis added). Supporters of the Act explained that they desired a

federal forum in part because “courts do not consist of judges alone. It will be the

duty of the judges, district attorneys, marshals, clerks, grand and petit juries, and

the bailiffs of the courts, with the records to accompany each other in these

remarkable visitations and perambulations.” Id. at 1271 (statement of Rep. Kerr).

2. Congress Provided A Federal Judicial Forum Because Of


The Failures Of The Freedmen’s Bureau Tribunals

Congress enacted Section 1981 because it viewed as a failure attempts to

enforce civil rights without the federal court system. One of those alternatives was

the Freedmen’s Bureau tribunals, which are analogous to modern arbitration. Legal

experts in all manner of fields have described the Freedmen’s Bureau tribunals as

arbitration or pseudo-arbitration. Mark Tushnet, The Lawyer/Judge As Republican

Hero, 70 STAN. L. REV. ONLINE 29 (2017) (discussing Freedmen’s Bureau


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tribunals in the context of arbitration); Taja-Nia Y. Henderson, Dignity

Contradictions: Reconstruction As Restoration, 92 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 1135, 1149–

50 (2017) (Freedmen’s Bureau agents served as “arbiters of labor fairness”); Adjoa

Artis Aiyetoro, Truth Matters: A Call for the American Bar Association to

Acknowledge Its Past and Make Reparations to African Descendants, 18 GEO.

MASON U. CIV. RTS. L.J. 51, 65 (2007) (stating that Freedmen’s Bureau tribunals

were “boards of arbitration”); Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Judicial Conference

of the District of Columbia Circuit, 105 F.R.D. 251, 291 (1984) (statement of

Professor Anthony G. Amsterdam) (describing Freedmen’s Bureau “arbitration

tribunals”).

Within one year after the conclusion of the Civil War, Congress already

realized that it needed a new approach to appropriately protect the civil rights of

Black Americans in the South. Professor Terry Kogan has explained that “as a

result of abuses in the South, particularly the Blacks Codes and the early failures of

the Freedmen's Bureau, Congress saw the need for specific legislation aimed at

protecting the civil rights of the new freedmen. The result was the Civil Rights Act

of 1866, the forerunner of the fourteenth amendment [sic].” Terry S. Kogan, A

Neo-Federalist Tale of Personal Jurisdiction, 63 S. CAL. L. REV. 257, 313 (1990).

Prominent among the Bureau’s enforcement tools had been pseudo-

arbitration tribunals, which it frequently ‘contracted out’ to private actors—

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rendering the tribunals even more analogous to modern day, private arbitration.

Where scholars have explored the unfairness of the tribunals, many have attributed

the tribunals’ problems to the use of private actors. See, e.g., Henderson, supra at

1149–50 (“In jurisdictions where [local] whites were employed as Bureau agents

[mediating disputes], freedmen suffered.”). During a judicial conference of the

District of Columbia Circuit, Professor Anthony G. Amsterdam of New York

University Law School, drawing from the work of Jerold Auerbach, cited the

Bureau tribunals as an example where arbitration “finds and leaves the parties with

all of the chips in the hand of the stronger.” Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Judicial

Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit, 105 F.R.D. at 291 (statement of

Professor Anthony G. Amsterdam). Congress was well aware of these deficiencies,

as it received regular reports from the military authorities charged with governing

the states that had been in rebellion. A common sentiment was that “more explicit

statutory guarantees were. . . necessary” to ensure “something more than

parchment rights.” tenBroek, supra at 175.

To achieve this goal, Congress advanced the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Congress insisted that the federal government act directly upon and on behalf of

the citizens of the United States to enforce civil rights. That federal intervention

was through the courts. At the time, using the federal courts in this way was

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exceptional: the first general grant of federal question jurisdiction came nearly ten

years later, in 1875. Judiciary Act of 1875, 18 Stat. 470 (1875).

Conservative members of Congress immediately objected. “[A]ll subjects

embraced in [Section 1981],” contended one Senator, were “subjects solely of

State cognizance; and unless you can show that the States have surrendered the

control over them to the Federal Government [sic], they still belong to the States,

exclusively.” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 479 (1866) (statement of Sen.

Saulsbury). Another called the use of the federal judiciary to enforce the Act

“enormous” and “oppressive,” objecting that it would allow federal jurisdiction

over a “transaction that has transpired wholly within the state.” Id. at 598-99

(statement of Sen. Davis).

3. Congress Could Not Have Intended To Allow A Waiver Of


A Federal Judicial Forum

Congress took up the 1866 Act precisely due to concerns over the use of

private contracts to strip employees of their rights. Allowing employees to waive

their right to a federal forum would have defeated the entire bill. Reports to

Congress emphasized again and again the inequality in bargaining power between

employees and employers. Danielle Tarantolo, From Employment to Contract:

Section 1981 and Antidiscrimination Law for the Independent Contractor

Workforce, 116 YALE L.J. 170, 186 (2006) (“As the Reconstruction Congress was

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well aware, intolerable labor conditions prevailed throughout the South, posing

severe barriers for freed slaves who attempted to sell their labor for wages . . . .”).

Reports to Congress indicated that unfair contracts threatened to make Black

employees “much worse off than when they were slaves,” and that this could only

be prevented through federal intervention. Report of the Joint Committee on

Reconstruction, Part IV: Florida, Louisiana, Texas 125, 39th Cong., 1st Sess.

(1866) (testimony of Major General Christopher C. Andrews).

Congress knew that allowing waiver of a judicial forum through private

contract would have jeopardized enforcement of the rights it sought to extend to

Black Americans; allowing for private persons to preside over disputes would

efface every right set forth in the bill. As one arbitration scholar has explained:

Allowing the arbitration clauses would have given former slave


owners an ideal tool with which to ‘gut’ [Section 1981]. By naming
each other as arbitrators, by imposing high arbitration fees, by failing
to issue written decisions, by ensuring the results were binding and
subject to virtually no appeal, and perhaps even by limiting the
available relief, former slave owners could have eluded federal court
review and once again used their own private form of ‘justice’ to
maintain their superior position.

Jean Sternlight, Compelling Arbitration Claims Under the Civil Rights Act of

1866: What Congress Could Not Have Intended, 47 KAN. L. REV. 273, 282 (1999).

The accuracy of Sternlight’s analysis is borne out by history: when the Freedmen’s

Bureau contracted out responsibilities to non-government employees, or when its

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tribunals incorporated representatives of local whites, Black employees suffered.

See, e.g., Henderson, supra at 1149–50 (2017).

C. Section 1981’s Fundamental Purposes Are Incompatible With


Mandatory Arbitration

Section 1981’s fundamental purposes cannot be squared with using

mandatory private arbitration as a mechanism of enforcement. There are two

significant conflicts: first, arbitration conflicts with the intent of Congress to

enforce Section 1981 directly through the federal courts, and in particular through

the federal judiciary; second, Section 1981 cannot achieve its goal of deterrence if

claims under it can be compelled to arbitration.

As the use of arbitration agreements grows, these problems pose an

existential risk for the efficacy of deterrence. As of 2017, at least 55% of workers

in the United States are subject to arbitration agreements with their employer. E.g.,

Alexander J.S. Colvin, ECON. POL. INST., The growing use of mandatory

arbitration: Access to the courts is now barred for more than 60 million American

workers 1 (2017).

1. Congress Enacted Section 1981 For The Explicit Purpose


Of Affording A Federal Judicial Forum
Mandatory arbitration is, plainly, not a federal judicial forum—in fact, it is

neither federal, nor a judicial forum. This cannot be reconciled with the main

reason behind the enactment of Section 1981: to afford a federal judicial forum to

employees faced with racial discrimination. The 1866 Act “guarantee[d] access to
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the judiciary as the normal means of maintaining rights,” including those rights set

forth in Section 1981. tenBroek, supra at 178.

Congress’s goal in passing Section 1981 was to create a statute establishing

the direct federal protection of rights, the first law of its kind. See Runyon v.

McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 (1976) (noting that the “right of individuals to bring suits

in Federal courts to redress individual acts of discrimination, including

employment discrimination[,] was first provided by” Section 1981).

In other words, in passing the 1866 Act, for the first time in American

history Congress “nationalized” the civil rights of American citizens. See, e.g.,

tenBroek, supra at 178. Its goal was to “protect men in their ‘civil rights and

immunities,’ and to do so directly through the national government,” and

specifically through the federal courts. Id. In fact, “the federal government alone

was to be the agency of enforcement. Thus was effected a complete nationalization

of the civil or natural rights of persons.” Id. at 179 (emphasis added).

This cannot be reconciled with the nature of mandatory, private arbitration,

which has no accountability to the public. The very essence of arbitration is to

allow resolution of disputes in a private forum. Arbitration’s non-governmental

nature means that it has neither the ability to enforce general injunctions backed by

the force of the federal government, nor any marshals, or clerks, or juries, or

bailiffs. See Ferguson v. Corinthian Colleges, Inc., 733 F.3d 928, 937 (9th Cir.

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2013) (endorsing the argument that an arbitrator may only issue an injunction if the

arbitration agreement allows for such relief). Unlike the federal courts, arbitrators

derive their power from—and their powers are limited by—a contract, not the

United States Constitution.

Moreover, mandatory arbitration of Section 1981 claims would undo the

1866 Act’s remarkable achievement: allowing employees to seek the direct

intervention of the federal government when they face discrimination or

oppression in private contract. Instead, private arbitration eliminates any role for

the federal government in enforcing those statutory rights—in direct conflict with

the intent of Congress. Congress envisioned the enforcement of Section 1981

through “the quiet, dignified, firm, and constitutional forms of judicial procedure.”

Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 1153 (1866) (statement of Rep. Thayer).

Instead, arbitration provides for resolution of disputes outside of the restrictions of

established, substantive law. Arbitrators “decide disputes based on flexible

conglomerations of law, equity, practicalities, and applicable norms of standards.”

Amy J. Schmitz, Untangling the Privacy Paradox in Arbitration, U. KAN. L. REV.

1211, 1216 (2006); see also Edward Brunet, Arrbitration and Constitutional

Rights, 71 N.C. L. REV. 81, 85 (1992) (explaining that formal law has a

“subordinate role” in arbitration).

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2. Arbitration Interferes With Section 1981’s Goal Of


Deterring Discrimination
Among the purposes of Section 1981 is to “serve[ ] as a deterrent to

employment discrimination.” See, e.g., Carroll v. Gen. Accident Ins. Co. of Am.,

891 F.2d 1174, 1176 (5th Cir. 1990). Deterrence under Section 1981 cannot be

achieved through arbitration, for several reasons: (1) arbitration interferes with

public awareness of discrimination claims; (2) even when proceedings become

public, lack of written awards in arbitration prevents potential violators from

understanding the facts and nature of previous cases; and (3) arbitration outcomes

lack the force, power, and prestige of federal enforcement.

There can be no deterrence without “public knowledge of disputes and their

disposition.” Geraldine Szott Moohr, Arbitration and the Goals of Employment

Discrimination Law, 56 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 395, 431 (1999). This is because

“[p]otential violators can appreciate the threat of sanctions only when they learn

that similarly situated actors have been punished.” Id. This cannot happen in

arbitration.

When arbitrators issue written awards, they are not required by law to be

published, and in fact are generally not published. Laurie Kratky Doré, Public

Courts Versus Private Justice: It's Time to Let Some Sun Shine in on Alternative

Dispute Resolution, 81 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 463, 490 (2006). Every other element of

arbitration is similarly opaque:

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No open docket notifies the public or the media of the filing of an


arbitration claim or the existence of the dispute . . . . Parties cannot
share, and the public cannot access, evidence, testimony, briefs,
motions, and other information disclosed . . . . [T]he public cannot
attend arbitral hearings, which are generally only open to participants
and their representatives. Absent party agreement, the forum makes
no transcript of the proceedings.

Id. at 484-486; see also Moohr, supra at 402.

By contrast, the federal judiciary exercises a strong presumption in favor of

public access to hearings and transcripts: “It is clear that the courts of this country

recognize a general right to inspect and copy public records and documents,

including judicial records and documents.” Nixon v. Warner Comms., Inc., 435

U.S. 589, 597 (1978); see also Foltz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d

1122, 1135 (9th Cir. 2003) (“[W]e start with a strong presumption in favor of

access to court records.”). This rule exists in part to promote “the public’s

understanding of the judicial process of significant public events.” Valley Broad.

Co. v. U.S. Dist. Court—D. Nev., 798 F.2d 1289, 1294 (9th Cir. 1986). As a result,

journalists can report on judicial proceedings and their outcomes, and potential

defendants are alerted to the consequences of racial discrimination.

Because arbitrations are secret, parties are not aware of outcomes, and

journalists do not report even egregious discrimination. Stephanie Brenowitz,

Deadly Secrecy: The Erosion of Public Information Under Private Justice, 19

OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 679, 682 (2004) (“These private mechanisms are often

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intended to avoid publicity, which they easily accomplish because the disputes are

never entered onto a court docket; they are unlikely ever to come to the attention of

the press or consumer advocates, who serve as the public's watchdogs.”).

Arbitration also undermines the deterrent function of Section 1981 because

arbitrators are not required to issue reasoned opinions or indicate whether they

have awarded punitive damages. Even when arbitrators do issue written awards,

they are often brief and barely reasoned in comparison to judicial decisions. See

Brunet, supra at 85 (“The typical arbitration concludes with a terse, non-

explanatory written award that is not disclosed to the public.”).

Effective deterrence requires potential defendants to be aware of the

repercussions of violating the law, including what facts give rise to what penalties.

When arbitrators do not issue detailed, written awards, non-parties to the

arbitration will have no ability to determine liability by comparing their potential

violations to those committed by the defendant.

Though regulated, the vast majority of rules governing arbitration are set by

the private corporations that provide arbitration services. For example, some

arbitration services require the arbitrators they hire to issue written awards;

however, there is no legal requirement that arbitrators in fact do so. The protections

in arbitral rules are subject to change at the whim of the arbitral service and, by

extension, the private parties who pay their fees.

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Finally, arbitration is necessarily non-governmental in nature, weakening

both specific deterrence—i.e., preventing the same actor from repeating the same

behavior—and general deterrence. Federal courts speak with the power of the

federal government; they derive their power from that of the state. Moohr, supra at

401 (“The judicial branch definitively applies coercive state power to issue

judgment in a visible, unbiased, accountable, and rationalized manner.”). The state

power behind courts enhances the deterrent effect of dispute outcomes in judicial

forums. Id. at 400 (“[J]udicial decisions, which speak with the authority of the

state, provide general deterrence of future violators.”).

3. Analogies To Other Civil Rights Statutes Are Inappropriate


In considering the fundamental purposes of Section 1981, this Court should

not rely on the analysis of statutes enforced by EEOC. Section 1981’s provision of

a federal judicial forum was unique in a variety of ways. As a result, Gilmer’s

reasoning as to the ADEA, does not apply here.

Unlike every other civil rights claim subject to arbitration, Section 1981 was

enacted at a time when mandatory arbitration was flatly rejected by the courts. See,

e.g., Home Ins. Co. of New York v. Morse, 87 U.S. 445, 450 (1874) (stating that

“[t]here is no sound principle upon which [arbitration agreements] can be

specifically enforced”). In addition, Congress specifically provided a judicial

forum for claims under the 1866 Act, at a time when general federal question

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jurisdiction did not exist—a significant point of contention in the debates over the

bill. It would not have taken the extraordinary step of expanding federal court

jurisdiction, only to undercut it by allowing mandatory, out-of-court resolution.

This stands in contrast to the ADEA and every other civil rights statute that

has been compelled to arbitration, which were all enacted well after the FAA and

at a time when general federal question jurisdiction had been long established and

was uncontroversial.

Moreover, Gilmer’s fundamental purposes analysis relied on the role the

EEOC played in enforcing the ADEA, a role that it does not play for Section 1981.

Congress desired a “flexible approach to the resolution of claims” under the

ADEA: the EEOC “is directed to pursue ‘informal methods of conciliation,

conference, and persuasion.” 500 U.S. at 29. As a result, the Court concluded that

“out-of-court dispute resolution, such as arbitration, is consistent with the statutory

scheme established by Congress.” Id. The same reasoning applies to Title VII, and

all other civil rights statutes found to be appropriate for arbitration, but not to

Section 1981—Section 1981 involves no enforcement by any federal agency and

provides for no kind of alternative dispute resolution.

Section 1981’s method of achieving deterrence is also distinguishable:

because the EEOC itself can bring claims, and is not bound by arbitration, statutes

such as Title VII and the ADEA retain their deterrent effect regardless of whether

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individual plaintiffs are compelled to arbitration. Furthermore, like federal courts,

and unlike arbitrators, the EEOC speaks with the voice of the state and the power

of the federal government; the enforcement role of the federal government beyond

the courts enhances deterrence of future violations, whether or not private parties

are able to vindicate their claims in public or not.

For example, Gilmer rejected the argument that arbitration interfered with

the ADEA’s goal of deterrence largely due to the ability of the EEOC to enforce

the law:

An individual ADEA claimant subject to an arbitration agreement will


still be free to file a charge with the EEOC, even though the claimant
is not able to institute a private judicial action. Indeed, Gilmer filed a
charge with the EEOC in this case. In any event, the EEOC's role in
combating age discrimination is not dependent on the filing of a
charge; the agency may receive information concerning alleged
violations of the ADEA “from any source,” and it has independent
authority to investigate age discrimination.

Id. at 29. Gilmer observed that the EEOC could file in court outside of the bounds

of arbitration and could publicly enforce statutes regardless of individual

arbitration agreement. Not so here. The EEOC does not enforce Section 1981—

wronged employees cannot file a Section 1981 charge with the agency, and the

EEOC cannot bring suit under Section 1981. If this Court were to rule that Section

1981 claims are subject to arbitration, there would be no federal enforcement of

this statute where an arbitration agreement exists, contrary to its purposes and the

intent of Congress.

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Gilmer also considered other instances in which statutes enforced by

administrative agencies had been compelled to arbitration, such as the Securities

Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Id. Parallel enforcement of a

statutory claim by an administrative agency supports a finding that the claim can

be compelled to arbitration. But the converse must be true, as well. When there is

no agency involvement, such as under Section 1981, then individual plaintiffs

should have the power to enforce their claims in court. See, e.g., Price v. Pelka,

690 F.2d 98, 101 (6th Cir. 1982) (noting that it is private parties who enforce

Section 1981). Moreover, if Section 1981 plaintiffs can be compelled to arbitrate

their claims, no agency can take up their cause and file on their behalf in court.

Gilmer requires that courts consider the fundamental purposes of each

statute, and how arbitration relates to those purposes. Arbitration is not appropriate

or authorized by law for Section 1981 merely because other statutes, vastly

different from the one at issue, have purposes compatible with the arbitration of

claims arising under those other statutes.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff requests this Court to reverse the

judgment of the district court and remand the case for trial, and hold that claims

under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 are not appropriate or authorized by law for arbitration.

[signature page follows]

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Date: May 9, 2018

CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW GROUP

/s/ Lawrence A. Organ


Lawrence A. Organ

Attorneys for Appellant DeWitt Lambert

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STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES

Appellant is not presently aware of any related cases presently before this
court.

Date: May 9, 2018

CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW GROUP

/s/ Lawrence A. Organ


Lawrence A. Organ

Attorneys for Appellant DeWitt Lambert


Case: 18-15203, 05/09/2018, ID: 10867641, DktEntry: 8, Page 53 of 54

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7)(C), I certify that:

This brief complies with the type-volume limitation of Fed. R. App. P.

32(a)(7)(B) because this brief contains 12,300 words, excluding the parts of the

brief exempted by Fed. R. App. P. 32(f).

This brief complies with the typeface requirements of Fed. R. App. P.

32(a)(5) and the type style requirements of Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(6) because this

brief has been prepared in a proportionately spaced typeface, Times New Roman

14-point font, using Microsoft Word 2016.

Date: May 9, 2018

CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW GROUP

/s/ Lawrence A. Organ


Lawrence A. Organ

Attorneys for Appellant DeWitt Lambert


Case: 18-15203, 05/09/2018, ID: 10867641, DktEntry: 8, Page 54 of 54

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on May 9, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing with

the Clerk of the Court for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

by using the appellate CM/ECF system.

Participants in the case who are registered CM/ECF users will be served by

the appellate CM/ECF system.

Date: May 9, 2018

CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW GROUP

/s/ Lawrence A. Organ


Lawrence A. Organ

Attorneys for Appellant DeWitt Lambert

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