Arbitration Horror Stories

A recent article written by Stephen E. Friedman and published in the Catholic University Law Review entitled, Protecting Consumers from Arbitration Provisions in Cyberspace, argues that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not apply to consumer internet transactions. Friedman cites the fact that when Congress enacted the FAA in 1925, they specifically excluded oral and other non-written agreements from its application.

Friedman argues that all electronic agreements, including consumer internet transactions, would fall outside the FAA and therefore be subject to individual states’ regulation as opposed to the federal government’s.

A lively debate on the topic is sure to follow. As the dawning electronic age moves our legislative process into yet another grey area, I can only hope it becomes an opportunity to limit the inequities of current FAA application.

To read the article, go to: http://law.cua.edu/