Do Not Pay, the “robot lawyer” that can help you do everything from beat a traffic ticket to getting access to services for poor and homeless people, has rolled out a new service: “Do Not Sign,” a tool to analyze terms of service agreements.
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Tag: binding arbitration
Want a ride in a Lyft? Just sign away your right to sue if they kill, maim, rape or cheat you
Spotted today in my Lyft app: a new set of terms and conditions that require you to “agree” to binding arbitration (an onerous condition heretofore reserved for downtrodden drivers), through which you agree to waive your right to join class action suits or pursue legal redress through the courts should Lyft, through its deliberate actions or negligence, cause you to be killed, maimed, raped or cheated — something that, not coincidentally, Lyft is in a lot of trouble over at the moment.
Propublica finds millions of Americans’ medical images and data sitting on unprotected, publicly accessible servers
An investigation by Propublica and Bayerischer Rundfunk found 187 servers hosting more than 5,000,000 patients’ confidential medical records and scans (including a mix of Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone numbers, scans and images, and medical files) that were accessible by the public, “available to anyone with basic computer expertise.”
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Chase customers have ONE MONTH left to opt out of binding arbitration
Ten years ago, Chase was forced to withdraw the binding arbitration clauses in its credit card agreements as part of a settlement in a class-action suit (the company was accused of conspiring with other banks to force all credit-card customers to accept binding arbitration) (one of the things binding arbitration does is deprive you of your right to join class-action suits!). Last May, the company stealthily reintroduced the clauses, and gave customers until August 7 to notify the company in writing if they do not agree to binding arbitration. You have ONE MONTH LEFT to opt out.
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Chase credit cards quietly reintroduce the binding arbitration clauses they were forced to eliminate a decade ago
Binding arbitration is a way for corporations to force you to surrender your legal rights as a condition of doing business, relegating you to seeking redress for breaches and harms by going before a paid arbitrator who is in the employ of the company that harmed you, and who almost always sides with their employer.
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Public outcry has killed an attempt turn clickthrough terms of service into legally binding obligations (for now)
On May 21, the American Law Institute — a kind of star chamber of 4,000 judges, law professors, and lawyers — was scheduled to pass a “restatement” of the law of consumer contracts, with the plan being to codify case-law to ensure that terms of service would be treated as enforceable obligations by US courts.
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Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the enforceability of arbitration clauses
Back in January, an Ontario court ruled that Uber’s arbitration clause couldn’t keep its drivers from suing it; Uber has appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which has taken up the case and will hear arguments about whether arbitration clauses (through which the parties surrender the right to sue in court) are enforceable in “adhesion contracts” (contracts that are not negotiated, where one party has much less power than the other, such as in click-through agreements).
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The FAIR Act will end forced arbitration for employment, consumer, antitrust and civil rights disputes
Forced arbitration “agreements” are how corporate America gets workers, tenants and customers to sign away their legal rights, substituting kangaroo courts where the “judge” is a lawyer paid by the corporation that abused you, and where the rules are whatever the corporation says they should be; The FAIR Act invalidates the use of arbitration to settle disputes over employment, consumer rights, antitrust and civil rights; it has 147 co-sponsors in the House and 34 in the Senate (all Democrats — Republicans love forced arbitration!), and its only hope of passing is if Democrats nuke the filibuster rule the next time they control the House, Senate and Presidency (that is, in 2020).
Ontario court rules that Uber can’t use arbitration to keep its drivers from suing it
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that Uber can’t use binding arbitration “agreements” to stop its drivers from joining a class action suit against the company; the court held that the arbitration clause was “illegally outsourcing an employment standard.”
Uber forces its drivers to arbitrate, rather than sue, but Uber also won’t arbitrate
Binding arbitration agreements were formalized in 1925, allowing two corporate entities of roughly equal size to resolve their disputes outside of a court, saving both parties a lot of money, but since then, the primary use of arbitration is to force employees, customers, patients and other comparatively weak parties to surrender their right to sue (or join class actions) as a condition of going to work, seeking care, or simply shopping.
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