In his blog, Outsourcing Justice, Professor Imre Szalai discusses two recent court decisions related to arbitration: Baltazar v. Forever 21, No S208345 (Cal. Mar. 28, 2016); and, Sgouros v. TransUnion Corp., No. 15-1371 (7th Cir. Mar. 25, 2016).
In Baltazar v. Forever 21, the California Supreme Court discusses the applicability of the unconsionability doctrine to arbitration agreement. Professor Szalai notes that Baltazar is likely to become the “leading California case regarding the unconscionability doctrine (and frequently-cited by corporate defendants and employers seeking to enforce an arbitration clause in California).”
In what Professor Szalai describes as a “must-read decision”, the Seventh Circuit found that an arbitration provision included in a putative contract arising from an online transaction was not enforceable. Sgorous v. TransUnion Corp., involved a transaction for a credit score package. According the court, TransUnion failed “to get the message to through to the site user that purchasing a consumer credit score means agreeing to the Service Agreement.”