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/