Taco Bell Franchisee Wins Arbitration Battle in Overtime Lawsuit

Taco Bell franchise operator Sundance Inc. on Tuesday convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reverse a decision allowing an employee’s wage-and-hour lawsuit to proceed in court, rather than arbitration.

Sundance, which owns more than 150 Taco Bell franchise restaurants in multiple states, didn’t waive its right to compel arbitration in Robyn Morgan’s overtime lawsuit by failing to seek arbitration in the early stages of litigation, the court said in a split opinion by Judge L. Steven Grasz. Sundance’s eight-month delay in moving to compel arbitration didn’t prejudice Morgan, because the parties spent much of that ...