Mobile phones, nursing homes, credit cards, and now bank accounts that you never even agreed to have opened in your name!? Corporate America is using forced arbitration clauses buried on many of the contracts you agree to every day to close the courthouse door in your face. These oppressive “fine print” clauses, which most people never read, are potent tools used to limit your right to sue and effectively recover against big corporations. Why do they use these clauses?
- Because they win far more often in front of the arbitrators who get huge volumes of business arbitrating these cases
- Because people cannot afford to pay for a private judicial system (arbitration costs money unlike the free and open court system)
- Because the results of arbitrations are secret and corporations won’t suffer bad publicity regardless of the outcome
- All of the above.
If you guessed “D”, you are absolutely correct. The only way to force Wells Fargo to do the right thing and live up to the promise they have made to Congress is for every consumer to insist on the right to proceed in court instead of being buried in a private arbitration system. If you are a Wells Fargo customer, tell them that you reject any arbitration clause on your account. If they will not agree to strike the clause, MOVE YOUR ACCOUNT!
If you have any questions regarding these issues or believe you have become a victim of forced arbitration clauses, contact our legal team at Shrager, Spivey & Sachs!
