The US has been seriously under-investing in its court system for quite a while and arbitration agreements are part of that. Generally big companies making agr

The US has been seriously under-investing in its court system for quite a while and arbitration agreements are part of that. Generally big companies making agreements with each other as equals will also put in arbitration agreements because going through the civil courts is very slow and expensive and they want to find what the resolution of a conflict is right now rather than in N years. But this can become abusive when it's a big company dealing with someone who didn't have lawyers reading the contract. You see a similar thing with the US criminal system and plea bargains.