State Judge: Arbitration not required by Trump NDA

Last week, former White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman made the rounds on national news shows about her new book and her firing which raised the question of whether she violated a signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) regarding her time in the Trump Administration. Meanwhile, an order in a New York lawsuit brought by another staffer during the campaign points to how Trump's future motion to compel arbitration claims may be decided. A state judge ruled Friday that another former campaign staffer‘s lawsuit regarding harassment could not be moved to private arbitration because her NDA didn’t specify that. Rather, it was merely an option and contained nothing about her job responsibilities, terms of her employment, salary, benefits, or her ability to pursue her own claim. Per the ruling, the court observed the arbitration clause confined arbitration to "any dispute arising under or relating to this agreement." The judge also decided it did not require arbitration for "any dispute between the parties" or even "any dispute arising out of plaintiff’s employment." Interestingly, the court did recognize an arbitrator's province in determining arbitrability, but said is was not even close call and was so clear on this specific, narrow clause as to be a question for the courts alone. Reportedly, Manigault Newman claims President Donald Trump is trying to silence her after his campaign filed an arbitration, claiming she violated her own non-disclosure agreement. See full news stories here-- https://bit.ly/2wgkYAT and https://usat.ly/2Bf3Cdu and court order here-- https://bit.ly/2Mna1IC