U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear DirecTV arbitration case

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal filed by DirecTV Inc concerning the satellite television provider’s efforts to enforce arbitration agreements its customers in California have signed. The high court agreed to review a decision by a state appeals court in California that found that consumers were not bound by a provision in the company’s customer agreement preventing disputes being resolved on a class-wide basis. The company says that disagreements must be resolved individually via private arbitration. Consumer advocates have criticized the increased use of arbitration agreements that they say deny customers the opportunity to vindicate their rights in court. The litigation dates back to 2008 when Amy Imburgia and Kathy Grenier filed class action lawsuits saying that DirecTV had violated state law by imposing cancellation fees. DirecTV says the April 2014 ruling by the California Court of Appeal, Second District in favor of the consumers conflicts with a 2013 decision the company won on the same matter that was issued by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The high court will hear the case during its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2016. The case is DirecTV Inc. v. Imburgia, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-462. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)