Arbitration:  Hohenshelt, The Granddaddy Case, Remanded To See If There Was A Plausible Excuse For Defendant Employer’s Failure To Timely Pay Arbitration Expenses And Whether The Delay Caused Harm To Plaintiff Employee

We Predicted That These Cases Would Be Remanded To Have Lower Courts Determine If There Was A Legitimate Excuse For The Delayed Payment.

                Hohenshelt v. Superior Court, Case No. B327524 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Nov. 10, 2025) (unpublished) was the granddaddy case which resulted in a California Supreme Court case on employers not making the 30-day deadline to pay arbitration expenses.  The Supreme Court held that the FAA did not preempt this deadline, but that employer could provide legitimate excuses for the delayed payment.  As we predicted once the supreme court decision came down, the Hohenshelt decision on remand from the state supreme court did remand to the trial court to determine if employer had a cognizable dispute and whether the delay for employee caused compensable harm.

               As we predicted, many cases post-Hohenshelt have been remanded to explore whether the employer had excuses for delayed payment.