Masters v. KOL, Inc.

**What Happened** Casey Masters sued KOL, Inc. for breaking their contract. KOL wanted to force the dispute into private arbitration instead of going to court, based on an arbitration agreement the two parties had signed in April 2017. However, after Masters filed the lawsuit, KOL signed additional contracts with him. The lower court refused to require arbitration, saying that KOL's decision to sign new contracts after the lawsuit was filed made their original arbitration agreement invalid and unenforceable. **What the Court Decided** The appeals court disagreed with the lower court and reversed the decision. The court ruled that signing new contracts after the lawsuit began did not cancel out the original arbitration agreement. The case was sent back to the lower court with instructions to force the dispute into arbitration rather than allowing it to proceed in court. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling shows that arbitration agreements can be very difficult to escape, even when employers take actions that might seem to undermine them. Workers should carefully consider arbitration clauses before signing any employment contracts, as courts tend to enforce these agreements even in complicated situations where the employer's later conduct might seem inconsistent with the original arbitration terms.