Don’t Agree to Arbitration
The Richard Law Firm was created to help people secure justice using our legal system.
More and more large corporations, insurance corporations and employers are asking consumers to wave their most important rights by agreeing to arbitration. We recommend you do not agree to arbitration or sign an arbitration agreement. Here are some of the important reasons that we recommend you avoid arbitration.
- An arbitration clause will result in a waiver of your right to a jury trial. The right to a jury trial is the most pawerful part of our democracy and one of the only pure parts of our democracy that is left. No one can lobby a jury or pay off a jury. Instead, jurors have the power to decide how our country will run and what is fair. Typically, big companies want you to waive your right to a jury trial so that their practices will not be examined or reviewed by an independent jury.
- Arbitration Proceeding are Expensive. Many companies ask you to agree to arbitration but don’t tell you that arbitration is extremely expensive. This is one of the largest contrasts between the arbitration remedy and your right to a jury trial. If you proceed in state court or federal court, you pay a filing fee and then you proceed with your action. The judge that considers your case is paid by the public. In contrast, arbitrators are often lawyers that are privately retained and each side has to pay half. The cost to pay an arbitrator to hear a case can run anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. The fees for the arbitrator are often accompanied by heavy administrative fees, sometimes more than $5,000. We have found that arbitrators often make a decision with an eye toward getting hired in another arbitration case. This means that they often lean toward deciding in favor of the big corporation or insurance company so that they will be hired again in future arbitrations.
- Arbitrators Decisions are Not Reviewed. Another reason we recommend avoiding arbitration is that there is no ability to appeal. If you get an arbitrator that makes a bad decision or is unfair, there is no ability to have those decisions reviewed. Instead, you are permanently stuck with the decision. Arbitration is confidential and limits the ability to bring corporate bad behavior to the public eye. Many large corporations and insurance companies try to get people to sign arbitration clauses so that they can dispose of disputes in private without facing the possibility that they will be called to answer for their actions in a public forum.