Mass Arbitration

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Overview

When you visit a company’s website from the privacy of your own home, whether you’re browsing or you actually purchase a product, once you leave the website,  that’s the end of your interaction with the company, right? Wrong. In their insatiable quest to increase profits, companies are employing technology to collect, use, and sometimes even sell your personal data, often without your consent, from the first moment you visit their site. Through a variety of tracking technologies (i.e., tracking pixels) embedded in their websites, companies harvest personal data about you, ranging from IP address and geolocation to name, address, reviewed products, and utilized search terms. Once collected and shared, this data is used to create additional marketing opportunities for the companies and/or undisclosed third parties, at the expense of your privacy. 

Think it’s no big deal that a company and its third-party marketing affiliates know that you were recently shopping online for a pair of pants?  Fine, but where does the intrusion into your privacy end?  What about when you’re purchasing medicine, researching oncologists, or making a doctor’s appointment? Tracking pixels may also be capturing and sharing all of these personal health details about you.  

Many consumers are bothered by these invasions of privacy to the point that they take legal action, filing  individual or class action lawsuits.  Anticipating such legal actions, companies have taken extraordinary measures to make it difficult – if not impossible – to file a lawsuit. Specifically, companies regularly include arbitration clauses in their consumer contracts, terms of use, and/or terms and conditions, which prevent consumers from pursuing their claims in court or on a class-wide basis. Typically, an arbitration clause requires consumers to pursue any disputes they have with a company privately and confidentially outside of court and exclusively on an individual basis. This is where Bryson comes in. When companies insert arbitration clauses just to push complex consumer disputes underground, Bryson pushes back—swiftly and powerfully. We specialize in mass arbitration strategies, organizing hundreds or even thousands of individual claims into coordinated actions. We combine legal firepower with tech-savvy systems to hold companies accountable on a large scale, forcing them to pay attention—to the process and to your rights.

What is Arbitration?

Arbitration is like a private version of going to court. But instead of a judge or jury, the dispute is decided by a neutral person called an arbitrator. Both sides present their arguments, share evidence, and then the arbitrator makes a decision—usually final and binding.

Arbitration is like hiring a private referee to settle a disagreement, rather than going into the public court system.

How Is Arbitration Different from Court?

There are several ways in which arbitration differs from pursuing a lawsuit in court.  

  • Decision maker: In court, the outcome of a case is decided by the judge and/or jury. In arbitration, the outcome is decided by a neutral third party who may be chosen by the parties or assigned by an arbitration organization.
  • Formality: In court, everything is formal, civil procedures and rules of evidence are strictly followed. In contrast, arbitration is more relaxed, the rules are looser, and the process can be faster.
  • Privacy: Court filings and hearings are typically open and accessible to the public. But in arbitration, all of the submissions and proceedings are private and confidential. As a result, there is often no public record of cases handled in arbitration.
  • Costs: Court cases can take years to be resolved and typically involve big legal fees. By comparison, arbitration can be less expensive as matters are resolved quicker.
  • Appeals: When a party is dissatisfied with the decision in a court case, they can usually appeal the judge’ decision. In arbitration, the arbitrator’s decision is almost always final and there is no opportunity to appeal.

Class Actions: When a large group of people have been negatively impacted by a company in the same way, they can band together and file a single class action lawsuit in court on behalf of all affected persons. But in an effort to avoid class actions, many companies include arbitration clauses in their consumer contracts, terms of use, etc., banning class actions and requiring consumers to pursue their claims on an individual basis through arbitration.

What is Mass Arbitration?

Mass arbitration happens when thousands—or even tens of thousands—of people each file their own individual arbitration claims against the same company at the same time.

Normally, arbitration is a private process where one person and one company present their case to an arbitrator. Again, many companies require customers or employees to resolve disputes through arbitration instead of filing class-action lawsuits in court.

At Bryson, we use mass arbitration to flip the burden back on the company: instead of one big class action, we help large groups of people file many separate but similar arbitration claims simultaneously.

What Are The Benefits of Mass Arbitration?

  • Levels the playing field: individually, one person’s claim might be too small to pursue (like a $50 overcharge). But together, thousands of claims force the company to take notice.
  • Creates leverage for settlements: facing millions in arbitration costs, companies often prefer to negotiate a fair settlement rather than fight each case one by one.
  • Accountability despite arbitration clauses: Many businesses use arbitration clauses to block class actions. Mass arbitration works within those rules but still holds companies accountable on a large scale.
  • Speed and privacy: Arbitration can move faster than court, and proceedings are usually private. That can benefit consumers who want resolution without years of litigation.

Why is Mass Arbitration strategic?

Mass arbitration is powerful because it turns a company’s own arbitration clause against them.  It uses the rules the company wrote—but at a scale they didn’t expect. This often pushes companies to rethink their practices, improve compliance, or offer meaningful compensation to affected customers or employees.

What Types Of Claims Are Pursued In Mass Arbitration?

  • Invasion of Privacy
  • Data Breach
  • Deceptive Trade Practice
  • Junk Fees
  • Usury
  • Automatic Renewals
  • Wage & Hour

How do I get involved?

Learn more about the mass arbitrations that Bryson is currently pursuing and see whether you qualify to participate.

Want to Learn More?

Read the Consumer Reports article, “Who Shares Your Information With Facebook?: Sampling the Surveillance Economy in 2023” by Don Marti, Fengyang Lin, Matthew Schwartz, and Ginny Fahs.

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