Restoring Statutory Rights Act (S. 2506): Bill Against Mandatory Arbitration

In recent years, bolstered by U.S. Supreme Court decisions, numerous businesses have successfully limited their potential exposure for consumer protection and employment law violations by requiring consumers and employees to enter into arbitration agreements. Now, the pendulum seems to be swinging back as Congress considers a bill limiting the practice.

On February 4, 2016, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy introduced the Restoring Statutory Rights Act (S. 2506) (available here). The bill would create an exception in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) for disputes involving individuals and small businesses. Pursuant to the proposed statute, arbitration would be available only if the parties agreed to it after the dispute arose. By contrast, currently, individuals often agree to arbitration as a condition of purchasing a product or applying for employment. The bill explicitly criticizes recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the preemptive effect of the FAA, stating that the decisions “have enabled business entities to avoid or nullify legal duties created by congressional enactment, resulting in millions of people in the United States being unable to vindicate their rights in State and Federal courts.”

The proposed bill would also strengthen the power of the courts to reject mandatory arbitration if the arbitration clause is unconscionable or if a statute prohibits arbitration. Specifically, the bill provides that courts may decline to compel arbitration if “a Federal or State statute, or the finding of a Federal or State court, . . . prohibits the agreement to arbitrate on grounds that the agreement is unconscionable, invalid because there was no meeting of the minds, or otherwise unenforceable as a matter of contract law or public policy.” This provision is expressly aimed at cases such as AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), that have interpreted the FAA to preempt substantive rights and remedies established under the law.

The success of this bill is uncertain as Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress and generally favor arbitration, but it represents a serious effort to roll back some of the excesses in business entities’ use of arbitration.

Authored By:
Stan Karas, Senior Counsel
CAPSTONE LAW APC