Sunday, January 17, 2016

Do You Have Fitbit? Surprise!




If you visit a Fitbit website—say, to synch your Fitbit to your phone— you are now required to agree to arbitration. In other words, if you had a future reason to sue Fitbit (failure to abide by warranty; defective product; etc.), you are required to waive your right to seek redress in a court, and appear before an arbitrator, likely chosen by the company. Details are here.  Meanwhile, at Guitar Center, Sean Lynch—a seven year employee— was required to go online and sign an arbitration agreement. If not, he’d be fired. For more, click on this.

In California, this type of forced agreement is called for what it is— an adhesion contract, which is lawyer-speak for a contract that has the appearance of an agreement but is actually the product of compulsion by a party with superior power over a party who signs under duress. In most states—and also, in most federal-law situations— these agreements are upheld by courts. (Thanks to my South Bend Bureau for a key tip here!)

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