Every lawyer knows that contractual arbitration clauses are hard to get around, but it’s not a hopeless proposition. Little-known and rarely discussed, the consumer exception to the Texas General Arbitration Act (“TGAA”) lets you wedge your foot in the courtroom door in certain cases. Whether you can ultimately sell your bible to the judge is another matter. In this article, I discuss the parameters of the statute as well as its practical value in the narrow class of cases where it applies. I ultimately conclude that where the TGAA consumer exception can reasonably be asserted as a defense to arbitration, it can be an important strategic tool for improving the legal position of a consumer plaintiff. I also conclude that the arbitration clauses in many attorney-client fee agreements may be held unenforceable if challenged with the consumer exception to the TGAA.

Read the entire article HERE.

Tags: ADR, arbitration