Tables Turning: How Companies Should Respond to the “Mass Arbitration” Phenomenon and Abernathy v. DoorDash, Inc.

Authors

Isaac Keller

Abstract

Over the last four decades, mandatory pre-dispute arbitration has become an increasingly common method for resolving disputes between corporations and consumers or employees. Despite its harm to smaller and disadvantaged parties, the Supreme Court’s pro-arbitration stance and legislative inaction have allowed this trend to continue. Following the Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in Concepcion, this practice has expanded to include class action waivers. However, a new strategy known as “mass arbitration” is empowering plaintiffs and forcing companies to settle disputes more quickly. This article aims to advise businesses on how to respond to this development, ultimately recommending that businesses reject the conventional wisdom that arbitration provisions with class waivers are advantageous and eliminate mandatory pre-dispute arbitration provisions with class action waivers in consumer and employment contracts.

First Page

263

Recommended Citation

Isaac Keller, Tables Turning: How Companies Should Respond to the “Mass Arbitration” Phenomenon and Abernathy v. DoorDash, Inc., 7 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 263 (2024).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol7/iss2/7