Hacker News Reader

Comment by nimos | Hacker News Reader

Honestly I prefer arbitration agreements. My lazy ass aint making it down to the court house but you bet your ass I can fill out a form online. But yeah they and every other company are basically counting on no one ever doing anything.

I'm really hoping it blows up in some company's face where there are a lot of individuals with claims and it goes viral. Would tickle me funny if a Fortune 500 company got bankrupted by some zoomer on tiktok doing a stupid dance while telling people how to file for arbitration. AFAIK it is actually FAR FAR more expensive than a class action lawsuit if a non-trivial number of people actually file for arbitration.

View on HN

Some judges have forced individual arbitration for whole classes when companies cite this clause during class action cases. The companies quickly regret the forced arbitration.

The mandatory arbitration provisions are actually bad for 'lazy ass' people like you, since they mean that you can't join in on a class action lawsuit.

Eh I've been a part of a bunch of class action law suits and I think the most I've gotten was a 10-20 dollar gift card? The only time I've started arbitration a) my problem got fixed almost immediately b) I walked away with an extra 1000 dollars (which probably could have been more but again I was lazy and instantly settled)

IIRC I filled out 1 online form and had previously sent 1 copy-paste demand letter.

The arbitration DDOS attack is literally the only positive thing I can say has come from the explosion of arbitration provisions in consumer and employment contracts.

Otherwise, consumer arbitration is a shitshow, a kangaroo court, a mockery of the idea of justice. Arbitrators’ livelihoods depend on the repeat business of - you’ll never guess - corporate defendants. Their award stats bear this out.

What we need as a society is some way to organize arbitration clause DDOS attacks en masse, perhaps functioning as a nonprofit helping support associated fees when doing so.

Sounds like an opportunity for one of those “we fight your parking ticket” style of company. Download the app and they automate filing for arbitration on your behalf. Maybe they take a cut out of the proceeds.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com