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Comment by erikb | Hacker News Reader

Current headline:

> If you enroll in Equifax's TrustedID you waive your rights to sue Equifax

Is something like that even legally possible in the US? I know in my country it isn't.

A) You can't waive certain rights, even if you say so in a contract.

B) A contract that is general purpose, and not individually compromised by both parties, has even stronger protection. If you can convincably argue that you would not have assumed a clause, it is not valid.

C) Rules defined by laws overwrite contracts. So a law saying you can sue overwrites a term in a contract saying you can't.

Triple protected. Even if the US is more "free" in that regard, some of that protection must exist as well, right?

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Yes, it's legal, and increasingly popular for companies to require mandatory arbitration with no way to appeal to the courts, and to require a waiver of class action.

Arbitration started with the idea that there are two equal parties forming a contract, and both have an interest to come to a mutual agreement. This has spread even to consumer contracts.

For an example concerning customers of Well Fargo affected by fraud carried out by Wells Fargo, https://sites.duke.edu/thefinregblog/2016/11/23/how-wells-fa... .

> The scandal at Wells Fargo has placed big banks’ use of forced arbitration clauses under the microscope. When then Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee shortly after the scandal broke, he was asked by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) whether his bank would continue to require customers to take all disputes with the bank to arbitration. Stumpf replied that he was “not an expert in that” and would therefore have to consult with his legal team. Brown made his views on the practice known during his opening remarks at the hearing, stating: “rather than letting fraud victims have their day in court, Wells Fargo forced customers to abide by the mandatory arbitration clauses in their real accounts. You heard that right – the bank invoked the fine print on a real account to block redress on a fake one which it had created.” The use of forced arbitration clauses even made its way to the presidential campaign trail, with Hillary Clinton pledging to “reign in that abuse.”

Your can't waive your right to seek remedy in the event of a breach of contract, but US courts have ruled that clauses requiring mandatory arbitration from a private arbitrator instead of going through the public court system are legal.

Theoretically, it's just as fair to be heard by a neutral third party, but the biggest difference is that if you agree to arbitration, there's no equivalent of a class-action complaint meaning each impacted individual would have to file an arbitration claim separately.

In Brazil, mandatory arbitration is valid only on non consumer contracts.

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