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Dispensing Injustice: Stolt-Nielsen And Its Implications - Stolt-Nielsen S.A. V. Animalfeeds Int'l Corp., Nicholas Goodrich

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The immediate effect of the holding was to allow a group of corporate defendants to use their superior bargaining position in the contracting process to effectively shield themselves from liability. Although Stolt-Nielsen involved business entities, the case also has implications in the consumer context. If the Court were to extend the reasoning of the case to disputes involving adhesion contracts, corporations would enjoy this immunity in the context of consumer disputes. Far from a hypothetical exercise in the reaches of Supreme Court jurisprudence, the Court is expected to decide this very issue during the 2010 term. In light of these …