What the Heck is an Arbitration Clause?

ong>“bittion cl

uses? ong>

h

t’s this guy t

lking

bout? I’m just

n

vege guy, none of th

t stuff

pplies to me. Only big businesses h

ve to

oy

bout th

t bittion stuff, not individu

ls like me.

ight?” ong. I’ll bet you’ve got

t le

st one binding m

nd

to

y

bit

tion

g

eement (“BM

”) th

t

pplies to you

ight no

. M

ny c

edit cd

g

eements,

utomobile pu

ch

se

g

eements

nd mo

tg

ges h

ve BM

s. If you h

ve c

edit cds,

c

o

house, you m

y be subject to sevel BMg

eements

ight no

.

ong>So

h

t is bittion?

h

t is

BM

?<

st

ong>

hy should you c

e

bout

ny of this?
ong> bittion is

n

lte

n

tive method of

esolving disputes in

hich t

o p

ties p

esent thei

individu

l sides of

compl

int to

n

bit

to

o

p

nel of bitto

s. ong> The bitto

,

ho is supposed to be neutl, then

eighs the f

cts

nd

guments of both p

ties

nd decides the dispute. Decisions in

n

bit

tion

e usu

lly fin

l

nd c

nnot be

ppe

led. In binding m

nd

to

y bittion,

comp

ny

equi

es

consume

to

g

ee to submit

ny dispute th

t m

y

ise to binding

bit

tion p

io

to completing

tns

ction

ith the comp

ny. Consume

e

equi

ed to ive thei

constitution

l

ight to h

ve thei

dispute he

d

nd decided by

ju

y of thei

pee

s (i.e. usu

lly othe

consume

s).

ong>“

ell, th

t doesn’t sound so b

d. ong>

fte

ll, I get to

void

ll the h

ssle of

l

suit,

ight?” He

e

e

fe

things to think

bout. Fi

st,

bit

tion p

ovide

s

e o

g

nized to se

ve businesses, not consume

s.

ll of thei

m

keting is t

geted to

d businesses,

nd most of the

bit

to

s e eithe

executives o

lye

s in the co

pote indust

y. Bec

use only businesses e likely to be ong>“

epe

t custome

s”<

st

ong> of

n

bit

to

, the

e m

y be

n inhe

ent bi

s to

d the business clients

nd

g

inst the consume

.

lso, ong>“discove

y” ong> is g

e

tly limited in bittion. Discove

y is the p

ocess by

hich the p

ties to

dispute obt

in f

om the “othe

side” info

m

tion

nd documents th

t

e

elev

nt to the c

se. In egul lsuit, discove

y is

ight; in

bit

tion it is

p

ivilege.

consume

’s

ight to obt

in impo

t

nt (

nd often inc

imin

ting) evidence

g

inst

business is often seve

ely limited.

hile the

e is nothing ong

ith

volunty bittion

g

eement to

hich both p

ties h

ve

g

eed

nd fully unde

st

nd, m

ny businesses

equi

e bittion in the “fine p

int” befo

e they

ill do business

ith you. ong>So

h

t c

n you do?<

st

ong> Shop ound fo

c

edit cds. Find c

edit c

d p

ovide

s

ho do not h

ve BM

cl

uses in thei

g

eements. ite to those

ho do

nd expl

in

hy you

on’t be doing business

ith them. Like

ise,

hen shopping fo vehicle, insunce,

mo

tg

ge, o

ny othe

m

jo

pu

ch

se, m

ke su

e

he

d of time th

t you

on’t be

equi

ed to sign

BM

in o

de

to conduct you

business. Ou

fo

ef

the

s fought to insu

e youight to

ju

y t

i

l in civil c

ses. ong>M

ke su

e you do

h

t you c

n to p

ese

ve th

t

ight! ong> Ste

t J. Guss is

licensed

tto

ney pcticing in the Houston e

fo

15 yes. He concenttes in the e

s of n style="colo

: #3366ff;”><

h

ef=”https://c

inju

yvictims.com

“> n style="colo

: #3366ff;”>pe

son

l inju

y<

sp

n><><

sp

n>, insunce l, consume

l

,

nd sm

ll business issues. He m

y be

e

ched

t 800-898-4877 o

vi

em

il

t ste

t@

tto

neyguss.com.<

em>