Caleb Gerbitz, ‘Are Pre-Dispute Agreements to Arbitrate Online Enforceable?’

ABSTRACT
Despite the growing popularity of online dispute resolution and the near-ubiquitous nature of pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate in consumer contracts, these trends have not yet collided in the form of a pre-dispute agreement to arbitrate in an online forum. This article explores these parallel upward trends, the reasons such clauses are not yet in use, and concludes that pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate online may soon come into use. Next, it relies on current precedents to examine the likely enforceability of pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate online and conclude such agreement would most often be enforced. Finally, the article closes by surveying the likely implications of permitting pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate online.

Gerbitz, Caleb, Are Pre-Dispute Agreements to Arbitrate Online Enforceable? (January 25, 2020) 7 Arbitration Brief (Fall 2020, forthcoming).

First posted 2020-04-23 05:14:01

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