Last week, a California federal court granted Google’s motion to compel arbitration of claims asserted by customers who alleged that their Fitbit watches burned their skin. The opinion in Houtchens v. Google found that the company’s “clickwrap” agreement put the plaintiffs on “reasonably conspicuous notice” of the company’s terms of service when they created online accounts to purchase the watches. … Continue Reading
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Ninth Circuit revisits standards for enforcing online arbitration provisions
By Mark J. Levin on
Posted in Arbitration, Litigation and Court Decisions
Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reexamined when use of a website can bind a consumer to hyperlinked “terms and conditions” containing an arbitration provision that the consumer never saw or read. Affirming the district court, the appeals court held that the plaintiffs in Berman v. Freedom Financial Network, LLC did not enter into a binding agreement to arbitrate because they did not “unambiguously manifest their assent to the terms and conditions when navigating through the [defendants’] websites.”… Continue Reading