Can an attorney bind his client to an agreement for arbitration?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Blanton v. Womancare, Inc., 212 Cal.Rptr. 151, 38 Cal.3d 396, 696 P.2d 645 (Cal. 1985):

[696 P.2d 653] Here, similarly, an attorney, merely by virtue of his employment as such, has no apparent authority to bind his client to an agreement for arbitration. We find no reason in logic, or policy, for holding his apparent authority in that respect is enlarged by reason of the fact that he has been retained to engage in litigation. When a client engages an attorney to litigate in a judicial forum, the client has a right to be consulted, and his consent [38 Cal.3d 408] obtained, before the dispute is shifted to another, and quite different, forum, particularly where the transfer entails the sort of substantial consequences present here.

This case is distinguishable from Madden v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Page 159

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