Originally from:
Journal of American Arbitration (JAA) - Vol. 2, No. 2
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ARTICLES
Remember Me?: Circuit City Returns to the
Ninth Circuit to Litigate the Enforcement of
Its Arbitration Agreement in Circuit City
Stores, Inc. v. Mantor
By Andra I. Maniu
I. OVERVIEW
When Circuit City Stores, Inc. hired Paul Mantor in 1992, the
employment contract he signed did not contain an arbitration clause.1 As
the chain’s litigation expenses in actions filed by employees escalated,
however, it developed the “Associate Issue Resolution Program” (AIRP)
and, in 1995, began requesting that employees enter into arbitration
agreements.2 In 1998, Circuit City district managers persuaded Mantor
to sign the dispute resolution clause after he had avoided “either signing
up or openly refusing to participate in the AIRP for three years.”3 When
Circuit City terminated Mantor in 2000, he filed suit in civil court,
alleging twelve causes of action.4 Mantor, in order “to preserve his right
to arbitrate his claims in the event that a court determined that his claims
were subject to arbitration, . . . submitted an Arbitration Request Form
and a cashier’s check in the amount of seventy-five dollars to Circuit
City’s Arbitration Coordinator.”5 Circuit City petitioned the district court
to compel Mantor to arbitration under section 4 of the Federal Arbitration
Andra I. Maniu, J.D. candidate 2005, Tulane Law School; B.A. Princeton University, 2002. Author
graduated with a degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Policy, with a concentration in Eastern European politics. She would like to thank Olivia
Orza for her support and Marla Owczarek and Jacqueline Simms for their guidance. Ms.
Maniu is a contributing member of The Journal of American Arbitration.
