Recently, I posted about eBay's new binding pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clause (which includes a class-action ban). The clause provides a time-limited right to opt out. eBay has designed the opt-out to make it seem like the company is giving consumers a real option to resolve their future disputes with eBay in court, while really trying to force their customers into arbitration.
Now, at Credit Slips, in this interesting essay, Adam Levitin has used my post as a jumping-off point to delve into the problems of consumer arbitration, the illusory right to opt out, and the problems associated with applying standard contract theory to consumer contracts.
