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Hey, I'd be the defendant in a case that may go to arbitration. The company claims that I've committed a violation of their ToU. To the extent that their ToU is
by cookiecaper 11y ago
Hey, I'd be the defendant in a case that may go to arbitration. The company claims that I've committed a violation of their ToU. To the extent that their ToU is a valid contract which I've actually entered (presently a point of dispute), it also stipulates that all non-intellectual-property claims must be settled through a neutral arbitrator.
This actually gives me a little bit of hope, because if it happens, I may be able to sway the arbitrator in my favor, as arbitrators are not bound by case law (currently ambiguous but slightly leaning against me) but their own ideas of fairness and justice.
In an actual court, it'd cost me millions of dollars in legal fees before the case got close to a final resolution, and I personally think it'd be very difficult to get a positive outcome, for a handful of involved reasons. With an arbitrator, the prospect of millions of dollars in legal fees is off the table, and there's no data at all as to the likelihood of success since it seems to be wholly dependent on the actual individual that ends up hearing the case. The case hinges on a modern understanding of a technical issue. If the arbitrator is not tech-savvy, he'd likely favor Big Corp. If he is, he'd likely favor me.
My primary concern is that the arbitrator would want to side with the Fortune 500 company in question here, because they're a Fortune 500 company that can bring his arbitration firm a lot of money. I even have this concern to some extent with bona fide judges, and especially have this concern with regard to international operations. The fact is that there is potentially a lot more to gain by making Big Corp like them than there is by getting a fair result for little old me, who is just a regular chump and unfortunately not one of the wealthiest entities on earth. There's not even really street cred, because most people really like this Big Corp.
Pretty much the only hope I'd have is that the arbitrator, judge, court system, and everyone else involved has a rock solid commitment to justice and fairness, unphased by the allure of Big Corp's massive money-dick wagging all over the place (I should note too that this massive money-dick was substantially involved in creating the legal grey area they're using to go after me in the first place, so maybe that should be a good indicator of my prospects). Can you give me some hope that I'd get a fair hearing?