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Full-Text Articles in Law
Contract And Choice, Peter B. Rutledge, Christopher R. Drahozal
Contract And Choice, Peter B. Rutledge, Christopher R. Drahozal
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This Article contributes to an ongoing debate, afoot in academic, legal, and policy circles, over the future of consumer arbitration. Utilizing a newly available database of credit card agreements, the Article offers an in-depth examination of dispute resolution practices within the credit card industry. In some respects, the data cast doubt on the conventional wisdom about the pervasiveness of arbitration clauses in consumer contracts and the presence of unfair terms. For example, the vast majority of credit card issuers do not utilize arbitration clauses, and by the end of 201 0, the majority of credit card debt was not subject …
Arbitration Reform: What We Know And What We Need To Know, Peter B. Rutledge
Arbitration Reform: What We Know And What We Need To Know, Peter B. Rutledge
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The future of commercial arbitration has become a centerpiece of the domestic congressional agenda. According to one estimate, ten different bills introduced in the 110th Congress would chip away at the enforceability of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. By far the most significant bill, the Arbitration Fairness Act, would retroactively invalidate arbitration agreements in all employment, consumer, securities and franchise contracts. An especially vague provision in a prior version of the bill would invalidate agreements involving claims under statutes intended to protect civil rights or designed to regulate transactions between parties of unequal bargaining power. Are these wise moves?
The Case Against The Arbitration Fairness Act, Peter B. Rutledge
The Case Against The Arbitration Fairness Act, Peter B. Rutledge
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The Arbitration Fairness Act is a well-intended but ultimately misguided attempt to address a system of dispute resolution that has largely worked well. The bill currently being considered by Congress rests on a series of flawed empirical premises. This article addresses three. First, though the bill posits that arbitration leaves consumers and employees worse off, data demonstrate individuals overall are often better off under a system with enforceable predispute arbitration agreements than a system without them. Second, although the bill promises improved access to justice, the proposal actually erects more impediments. Third, though the bill suggests that postdispute arbitration will …
Who Can Be Against Fairness? The Case Against The Arbitration Fairness Act, Peter B. Rutledge
Who Can Be Against Fairness? The Case Against The Arbitration Fairness Act, Peter B. Rutledge
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In this brief essay, I hope to lay out the case against the Arbitration Fairness Act.3 Part I of this Article addresses the “findings” on which the act is premised. It explains how in several respects the current research on arbitration flatly contradicts the premises animating those findings (in other respects, the data is incomplete, so the “findings” at best are better described as “untested hypotheses” or “assumptions”). Part II of this Article explains why postdispute arbitration is not a viable alternative to our present system of enforceable predispute arbitration clauses.