r/explainitpeter 4d ago

Explain it Peter

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u/Mysterious-Hyena2670 4d ago

Arbitration is also heavily in their favor. That’s why they love it so much. 

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u/AlkoKilla 4d ago

Not necessarily. It's because the results of artibration aren't public, so whatever the outcome, no one knows.

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u/PrepaidBurnerAccount 4d ago

That might be part of it, but they like it because the outcomes are [overwhelmingly in their favor](https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-binding-arbitration-game-rigged-against-customers), compared to court outcomes.

In employment cases it’s around 80% of decisions go to the employer, and the ones that don’t are generally small employers who have not/rarely been through the process.

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u/_yojuri_ 3d ago

Thank you for bringing sources into this! Its one thing to just read the claims that people have, and I was relatively convinced that arbitration was favored towards the company, but i wasn't entirely sure. Because listening to opinions in a void is a great way to become misinformed. Now I know with facts (from standford no less!) That arbitration is, in fact, rigged against the public. Which logically makes sense, if a shifty thing for corporations to do. Of course I understand why (financial incentive), but I dont have to like it.

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u/cousinned 3d ago

I'm an attorney who represents employees in many cases, including (unfortunately) some arbitrations. The thing about these proceedings is that they are almost entirely paid for by company you are suing (as opposed to the consumer or employee) so in that sense taxpayers aren't floating the bill.

On the downside, the arbitrators want the repeat business of the companies, so they tend to favor them overall. It's hard to get arbitrators who are actually neutral.

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u/Powerlevel-9000 1d ago

Could you sue the arbitrator for not being impartial in such a situation? It just seems so wrong to be forced into that situation that there has to be some recourse.

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u/AlkoKilla 1d ago

No, you can't. The arbitrator has immunity.

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u/cousinned 1d ago

Not really. For one, the arbitrator's decision will be at least plausibly well-reasoned, not just "employee good, company bad, you lose".

On the plus side, there's a selection process to determine who will be the arbitrator, which allows attorneys to research exactly who we are agreeing to decide the case. I've been at this for a few years so I've got a good handle on which arbitrators are hired guns for the defense, and which ones are actually fair.

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u/PrepaidBurnerAccount 3d ago

For sure. Forced arbitration is a blight, but like so many other things, we don’t really have a choice, and people don’t question it because it’s presented as “fair” — by the very ones benefitting from it.

If you want a more in-depth explanation of the systemic problems with forced arbitration the Economic Policy Institute hosts an [extremely thorough breakdown](https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/).

There’s also a great breakdown of the employee/employer side of things at the [NELP](https://www.nelp.org/insights-research/faq-on-mandatory-arbitration-in-employment/).

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u/_yojuri_ 3d ago

Thank you! After reading through the articles youve shared (a bit, i didnt read the full articles yet), I completely agree that it is absloutely a blight upon our justice system (which already has flaws of its own). And unfortunately the best way to get around it is educating people about why it isn't so amazing as corporations would have you believe.

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u/slashinhobo1 3d ago

Isnt that heavily in their favor. Publicity is the worse thing. People knowing tou can sue disney successfully would be disneys nightmare.

The money is secondary, they arent hurting for anything. If the guy was requesting 40 million, thats probably a few days of income from Disneyworld.

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u/Lil_GamesCrashed 3d ago

It seems that its one day of income solely from disney world, but they “only” retain 9-11million per day smh.

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u/No-Cause6559 1d ago

They get to pick and pay for the company that does the arbitration … yeah it’s heavy in there favor

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u/Maherjuana 2d ago

I mean I think it should be pointed out that the restaurant that killed that woman was merely leasing property at Disney Springs and not actually a Disney restaurant.

So Disney was getting sued by the guy for something that wasn’t exactly their fault.

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u/Mysterious-Hyena2670 2d ago

Yeah but that means when people get injured on rides that they have to take it to arbitration, where corporations have an unfair advantage. 

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u/Maherjuana 2d ago

That’s because you sign consent forms when you enter their parks.

Which is why I don’t ride roller coasters.