Currently spending the weekend packing for my first move in 5-6 years and, no exaggeration, every single new contract (lease, utilities, garbage, etc) had a forced arbitration clause.
When did these things become universally forced? I distinctly recall arbitration clauses being Big Corp Only things not too long ago - and in many cases, they allowed you to opt-out. Now it’s just a standard part of every boilerplate contract that you have to sign away your rights.
There are a series of awful supreme court decisions (often written by Scalia though not only) that eviscerated the right to actually use the court system.
- Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984)
arb applies in state courts in addition to federal
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
- Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996)
- Green TreeFinancial Corp.-Ala. .v Randolph, 531 US 79 (2000)
- Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 US 395 (1967)
- Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 US 440 (2006)
- Rent-A-Center West v. Jackson, 561 US 63 (2010)
arbitrator will determine the enforceability of the agreement
- Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., 552 US 576 (2008)
arb award can't be modified
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 US 20 (1991)
arb in discrimination claim
- AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011)A
class action waivers
- American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 570 US 228 (2013)
There have been some proposals to fix this - a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, none have passed yet.
2. Katherine V.W. Stone & Alexander J.S. Colvin. (2015). The arbitration epidemic: Mandatory arbitration deprives workers and consumers of their rights (Briefing Paper 414). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/
Comments
It's still crazy to me that forced arbitration is a thing. It should not be possible to sign away legal rights like that.
Tell your congressman to repeal the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925.
It seems to be absolutely everywhere now.
Currently spending the weekend packing for my first move in 5-6 years and, no exaggeration, every single new contract (lease, utilities, garbage, etc) had a forced arbitration clause.
When did these things become universally forced? I distinctly recall arbitration clauses being Big Corp Only things not too long ago - and in many cases, they allowed you to opt-out. Now it’s just a standard part of every boilerplate contract that you have to sign away your rights.
There are a series of awful supreme court decisions (often written by Scalia though not only) that eviscerated the right to actually use the court system.
- Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984) arb applies in state courts in addition to federal
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
- Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996)
- Green TreeFinancial Corp.-Ala. .v Randolph, 531 US 79 (2000)
- Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 US 395 (1967)
- Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 US 440 (2006)
- Rent-A-Center West v. Jackson, 561 US 63 (2010) arbitrator will determine the enforceability of the agreement
- Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., 552 US 576 (2008) arb award can't be modified
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 US 20 (1991) arb in discrimination claim
- AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011)A class action waivers
- American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 570 US 228 (2013)
There have been some proposals to fix this - a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, none have passed yet.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1374
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/259...
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/537
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1423
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/610
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/963
Some other useful sources if you care about the details:
1. Glover, J. M. (2022). Mass Arbitration. Stanford Law Review, 74. https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2...
2. Katherine V.W. Stone & Alexander J.S. Colvin. (2015). The arbitration epidemic: Mandatory arbitration deprives workers and consumers of their rights (Briefing Paper 414). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/
It is really a reflection of how broken the civil court process is in the US.