Consumer Contracts Posts

ALI CLE Program: Decoding Consumer Contracts

Consumer contracts touch nearly every aspect of daily life. Yet, unlike traditional contract law, the law of consumer contracts presents a fundamental challenge to practitioners, because of the asymmetry in information, sophistication, and stakes between the parties to these contracts: the business and the consumers.

Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts Is Available

This Restatement seeks to clarify how the courts have applied contract law embodied in the Restatement of the Law Second, Contracts to transactions that either were not contemplated at the time the earlier Restatement was completed.

Ending the Use of Customer Arbitration

A recent article published in the New York Times discusses Amazon’s change to its legal complaints process for its customers. Until recently, Amazon customers were required to pursue disputes with the company through a private arbitration process instead of through the courts.

Incorporation of Standard Contract Terms on Websites

The draft of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Consumer Contracts reflects the jurisdiction of the US courts on the ‘adoption’ (as the draft calls it) of standard contract terms into consumer contracts. This draft is of great value to European lawyers in understanding US developments, but it may also stimulate a reflection on the state and possible evolution of European legal systems.