Small Business Card, 2 Defendants - 1 Demand for Arbitration or 2?

[niko00001]

Hello! I am being sued by American Express for a small business credit card that I opened with my personal credit. They just filed two lawsuits: one against myself and the LLC in the county where the business is, and one against me personally in the county where I live. 

I am going to file a Motion to Compel arbitration for both cases.

The question is:  should I file 1 Demand for Arbitration to JAMS and list two claimants, or should I file two separate demands, one from the business and one from me? I am not sure if the business one would still be a "consumer arbitration"? 

Thank you for any advice!

[BackFromTheDebt]

3 hours ago, niko00001 said:

 

Hello! I am being sued by American Express for a small business credit card that I opened with my personal credit. They just filed two lawsuits: one against myself and the LLC in the county where the business is, and one against me personally in the county where I live. 

I am going to file a Motion to Compel arbitration for both cases.

The question is:  should I file 1 Demand for Arbitration to JAMS and list two claimants, or should I file two separate demands, one from the business and one from me? I am not sure if the business one would still be a "consumer arbitration"? 

Thank you for any advice!

I am normally a big fan of arbitration, but in your case arbitration might be a HUGE mistake.  

Thing is, for consumer arbitration, the consumer only has to pay $250 in fees at most.  

This is a business card.  Consumer arbitration rules probably don't apply.  That means you would probably have to pay about half the cost of arbitration.  

You seem to be under the misconception that you can use consumer arbitration rules in the case where they sued you personally.  Uh, that was a business card.  Even a personal suit for business expenses would still be a business, not a consumer, case in almost every case. There are some exceptions, but you would have to convince them that you only used your business card for personal use.  Even then, don't count on that working.  

And it get worse.  AmEx almost certainly won't walk away from arbitration.  

[niko00001]

Thanks for your reply. My Cardmember Agreement (which both myself and the business are parties to) does cap the arbitration cost at $250, so there isn't a risk of liability for high arbitration costs as you mention.