Arbitration Pushed in Small Business Class-Action Suit Against DirecTV

Opposition by a class-action litigation plaintiff to DirecTV's motion to compel arbitration doesn't respond to any DirecTV arguments why the arbitration clause in her customer agreement isn't valid, the company said in a memorandum filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Doneyda Perez said she never agreed to arbitrate claims but formed a binding arbitration agreement by using and paying for DirecTV and by signing her equipment lease agreement, the satellite company said. It recounted that the decision in Joaquin v. DirecTV, involving identical claims, said it also was within the scope of the DirecTV arbitration agreement. Perez, who owns an Orange County, California, beauty salon, alleges DirecTV seeks out small-business owners to sell its satellite-TV service for use in their business, designates those accounts as residential, and then later accuses them of pirating signals. Counsel for Perez didn't comment Monday.