The 'Infinite Arbitration Clause' Problem Extends Past Disney

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/politics/arbitration-signing-away-rights-disney-plus-wrongful-death-lawsuit/index.html

'INFINITE ARBITRATION CLAUSES' by David Horton
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9691&context=penn_law_review

The Case Against Infinite Arbitration Clauses
https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2019/03/25/the-case-against-infinite-arbitration-clauses/

"For decades, the Supreme Court has expanded the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), and companies have inserted arbitration clauses in hundreds of millions of consumer and employment contracts. But in an article forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, I explore a different way in which arbitration’s shadow is growing.

Traditionally, drafters only attempted to mandate arbitration of disputes connected to the contract that includes the arbitration provision (the “container contract”). Thus, even the broadest arbitration clause merely applied to “any controversy or claim . . . arising out of or relating to this agreement.” To enforce this limit, courts often refused to compel arbitration of claims that either (1) arose from shocking and unforeseeable wrongdoing, or (2) were brought by or against non-signatories, or (3) stemmed from events that occurred after the container contract had expired.

Now, however, businesses have started to experiment with what I call “infinite” arbitration clauses. These provisions exhibit at least one of the following characteristics. First, they insist that they govern all claims between the parties—even those that do not stem from the container contract. For instance, Sprint’s arbitration clause applies to “ANY (we really mean ANY) disagreements about our relationship.” Accordingly, at least on paper, infinite clauses cover behavior that has nothing to do with the original transaction, such as sexual harassment after the sale of household goods or “a punch in the nose during a dispute over medical billing.”"
- David Horton

Me: https://linktr.ee/kneepayne

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