Lewis v. Circuit City Stores, Inc.

Michael Lewis (plaintiff) was an employee of Circuit City Stores, Inc. (Circuit City) (defendant). When Lewis had applied for employment, his application included an arbitration agreement that broadly required arbitration of any claim that arose out of employment. Lewis suffered a work-related knee injury in 1997 and received medical treatment through workers’ compensation. Lewis’s knee continued to bother him, and he informed his supervisor. In December 2002, Lewis brought what appeared to be a handgun to work. Circuit City had a no-weapons policy. Another employee reported Lewis’s conduct. Lewis stated that he had only brought parts of a handgun to work—a pistol grip and slide—and had repaired these parts out of any customer’s view. A team of managers determined that Lewis’s conduct violated the weapons policy. In January 2003, Lewis was terminated. In April 2003, Lewis submitted a signed “Arbitration Request Form,” claiming that he was improperly fired due to his knee problems. The form contained Lewis’s agreement to submit the dispute to final, binding arbitration. In August 2003, Lewis submitted another arbitration-request form with more specific claims and damages, including a claim for retaliatory discharge. Lewis, represented by counsel, participated in a three-day arbitration hearing in 2004, at the end of which Lewis’s claims were denied. The arbitrator found that Circuit City’s reason for termination was not pretextual, and that even if the management misconstrued the weapons policy, Lewis’s termination was not retaliatory. In December 2004, Lewis filed a claim against Circuit City in Kansas state court, alleging wrongful termination based on the same set of facts. Circuit City removed the action to federal district court and filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the matter had already been arbitrated. Lewis argued for the first time that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable. The court ruled in Circuit City’s favor, and Lewis appealed.