Recently, one of our members posted his doctor’s office experience, where he was required to sign a mandatory binding arbitration agreement.

Was filling out all of the paperwork and in the middle of it found a “Notice of Binding Arbitration” It requested that you acknowledge that you had no right to the judical system for “any” complaint you might have on the services you received from their office. It further informed you that they would choose the arbitrator and that you “the Patient” would be responsible for paying said arbitrator whether you won or lost. It further asked you to acknowledge that the max recoverable amount for any malpractice on their part would be 200,000 minus the fees they may have incurred on defending themselves. I refused to sign it and they refused to see me.

Mandatory Arbitration is growing rapidly as a requirement for patients to receive necessary medical services. Many HMOs have arbitration clauses; more and more doctors have such clauses; most nursing homes require patients (or family members) to sign such clauses.

All of the following have mandatory binding arbitration agreements: ²

• All credit card agreements
• All phone service contracs
• Employers such as Anheuser-Busch, Cheesecake Factory, Circuit City, Ford Motor Co., Hooters, Hughes Electronics, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Lenscrafters, Marriott International, Pfizer, Rockwell, Ralph’s Grocery/Albertsons, Waffle House and General Electric, among thousands of others all require their employees to agree to mandatory arbitration clauses as a condition of getting or keeping a job.
• From talking to hundreds of consumer lawyers and consumers, it appears that in the last four years the vast majority (if not nearly all) car dealers in the U.S. have inserted binding arbitration clauses into their car sales contracts.
• It is hard to buy a computer without submitting to a binding arbitration clause. Dell, Gateway, and other major companies insist upon them.
• And as mentioned, doctors and hospitals

The one exception: In the fall of 2006, Congress made it a misdemeanor for a lender to put an arbitration clause into many loan agreements with members of the military or their dependent family members. 10 U.S.C. § 987 (e)(2)-(4); (f)(1). There is a serious policy question as to how mandatory arbitration could be so unfair when it is imposed upon a member of the military that it is a crime, yet it is supposed fair and proper to impose it on other citizens. ³

², ³ Source: Testimony To The Subcommittee On Commercial And Administrative Law Of The U.S. House Of Representatives’ Committee On The Judiciary - Hearing On Mandatory Binding Arbitration Agreements: Are They Fair To Consumers? June 12, 2007 by F. Paul Bland, Jr.

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