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Contracts

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Arbitration's Summer Soldiers: An Empirical Study Of Arbitration Clauses In Consumer And Nonconsumer Contracts, Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller, Emily Sherwin Jul 2008

Arbitration's Summer Soldiers: An Empirical Study Of Arbitration Clauses In Consumer And Nonconsumer Contracts, Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We provide the first study of varying use of arbitration clauses across contracts within the same firms. Using a sample of 26 consumer contracts and 164 nonconsumer contracts from large public corporations, we compared arbitration clause use in consumer contracts with their use in the same firms' nonconsumer contracts. Over three-quarters of the consumer agreements provided for mandatory arbitration but less than 10% of the firms' material nonconsumer, nonemployment contracts included arbitration clauses. The absence of arbitration provisions in nearly all material contracts suggests that, ex ante, many firms value, even prefer, litigation over arbitration to resolve disputes with peers. …


Do Juries Add Value?: Evidence From An Empirical Study Of Jury Trial Waiver Clauses In Large Corporate Contracts, Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller Nov 2006

Do Juries Add Value?: Evidence From An Empirical Study Of Jury Trial Waiver Clauses In Large Corporate Contracts, Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We study jury trial waivers in a data set of 2,816 contracts contained as exhibits in Form 8-K filings by reporting corporations during 2002. Because these contracts are associated with events deemed material to the financial condition of SEC-reporting firms, they likely are carefully negotiated by sophisticated, well-informed parties and thus provide presumptive evidence about the value associated with the availability of jury trials. Only a small minority of contracts, about 20 percent, waived jury trials. An additional nine percent of contracts had arbitration clauses that effectively preclude jury trials though the reason for arbitration clauses need not specifically relate …


On-Line Consumer Standard-Form Contracting Practices: A Survey And Discussion Of Legal Implications, Robert A. Hillman Mar 2005

On-Line Consumer Standard-Form Contracting Practices: A Survey And Discussion Of Legal Implications, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In a recent article, Standard-Form Contracting in the Electronic Age, 77 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 429 (2002), Jeffery Rachlinski and I analyzed whether contract law's approach to the problem of paper standard forms can effectively govern electronic forms. We thought the rational and cognitive reasons consumers fail to read their paper forms apply in the e-environment. Further, although e-consumers do not face manipulative sales agents or impatient customers waiting in line but, instead, largely contract at home in the evening without time constraints, e-consumers are impatient, even click happy, and therefore still do not read their forms or shop for the …