Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: A Look at a New Approach to Consumer Contracts
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Reasons Why the CFPB Should Deny the Petition for Rulemaking on Post-Dispute Consumer Arbitration Agreements
Join us for the latest episode of Financial Services Focus as Andy Demko and Archis Parasharami discuss how consumer arbitration became popular among U.S. businesses in response to class actions from the late 90s onward. The...more
The North Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday, May 23 held that a credit union’s unilateral update to add an arbitration provision and class action waiver to its contract with one of its customers was valid under North...more
For more than a decade, companies have benefited immensely from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 decision of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, which upheld a company's right to compel consumers into participating in individual...more
For more than a decade, companies have benefited immensely from the United States Supreme Court decision of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), which upheld a company’s right to compel consumers into...more
Earlier last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses...more
Automatic Renewal Laws (ARLs)—statutes governing continuity programs and automatically renewing contracts—have proliferated throughout the United States since 2010. Companies that offer automatic renewal programs face an...more
On Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation v. Kelly Donaldson and Robert Haulcy, No. SC99269 and Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation v. Christopher...more
A recent Sixth Circuit decision caught my eye because it addressed an important issue on which I have not seen any other appellate decisions (and none were cited in the opinion). The plaintiff argued that the Class Action...more
For many years, companies have required consumers and employees to sign contracts containing arbitration clauses that prohibit them from filing class action claims and require them to waive jury trials. The history of how...more
In Brice v. Haynes Investments LLC, No. 19-15707 (9th Cir. Sept. 16, 2021), the Ninth Circuit considered an appeal by shareholders in Native American tribe-linked online lenders of a district court order denying the...more
Arbitration clauses with class action waivers remain one of the most effective tools that consumer-facing companies can employ to fend off consumer class action litigation. Yet many companies stumble both in getting their...more
A business (“the Defendants” or “X”, “Y” or “Z”) that provides expert and litigation support services cannot, simultaneously, act for a party (“the Claimant”) in one arbitration and against the Claimant in a separate...more
After denying the defendants’ petitions for panel and en banc rehearing in the Blair v. Rent-a-Center appeals, the Ninth Circuit has granted their motions to stay the issuance of the Court’s mandates for 90 days pending the...more
On November 4, 2019, in Wainblat v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, et. al., No. 19-cv-10976, the District of Massachusetts ordered that a consumer privacy class action against Comcast must be arbitrated on an individual...more
This past Friday, by a vote of 225-186, the House passed H.R. 1423, the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act.” A Senate companion bill (S. 610) was introduced in February 2019 and referred to the Senate Judiciary...more
In Davis v. Oasis Legal Fin. Operating Co., LLC, 18-10526, 2019 WL 4051592 (11th Cir. Aug. 28, 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (“Eleventh Circuit”) affirmed a decision in the U.S. District Court for...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011) caused a shockwave in California’s class action bar when it held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempted California’s former...more
Last Tuesday, I had the great privilege of testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at its “Arbitration in America” hearing. ...more
For an arbitration agreement to be enforceable, the parties must have a reasonable opportunity to understand its terms. See Fagerstrom v. Amazon.com, Inc., 141 F. Supp. 3d 1070 (S.D. Cal. 2015). With this principle in mind,...more
As we reported, the Department of Education announced earlier this month that it would begin implementing its “borrower defense” final rule which was issued in November 2016 by providing discharges of federal student loans...more
The First Circuit recently held that an arbitration clause contained in the online contract of the ride sharing app, Uber Technologies, Inc., is unenforceable under Massachusetts law. ...more
Verizon Wireless prevailed recently in confirming certain arbitration awards related to a dispute based on allegedly unlawful administrative charges for a cellular contract. ...more
Takeaway: If you want to avoid exposure to class action litigation, you might think about putting an arbitration clause and class action waiver in your consumer-facing terms and conditions. But if you want those terms and...more
In October 2017, the United States Senate voted to invalidate a rule promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), which would have prohibited financial institutions from using arbitration agreements in...more
The merger between the Department of Labor and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development as proposed by the Scott Administration is off the table, but work that was spawned by consideration of the idea has gathered...more