Survey of Enforceability of Consumer Electronic Acceptance: A Practitioner's Guide to Designing Online Arbitration Agreements and Defending Them in Court - Part Ⅵ

摘要

As businesses continue to face unprecedented challenges navigating the global pandemic and depressed consumer spending and demand, companies are looking for cost-saving measures across the board to stay afloat and to maintain corporate profits. Many businesses have shifted to adding arbitration agreements with binding class action waivers to the sale of goods and use of services to consumers to flatten company annual litigation defense spending. These agreements require consumers to bring any claim arising out of their purchase or use of a product or service in arbitration rather than in court, and prevent consumers from bringing such claims as part of a class or consolidated action.The first part of this article, published in the January issue of The Computer & Internet Lawyer, discussed why an arbitration clause can be a powerful tool in a company's litigation defense arsenal; the enforceability of arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act; the two most common types of web-based contracts (a "click-wrap" or "clickthrough" agreement and a "browsewrap" agreement); and best practices for drafting those web-based contracts; and elements that attorneys defending a company's arbitration agreement in court should incorporate into any motion to compel arbitration.