Last Thursday, the Second Circuit found that the arbitration agreement in Uber’s Terms of Service was conspicuous enough to be binding and enforceable. As a result, the claims of a putative class of consumers will be dismissed unless they can show that Uber waived its right to arbitrate their claims. Meyer v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 2017 WL 3526682 (2d Cir. Aug. 17, 2017). [This proves my point from last week, that formation is one of the big issues this year in arbitration law.]
For those of you who still take yellow taxis, Uber is a “ride-hailing service,” where customers use an “app” on their smart phones to alert a nearby Uber driver that the customer wants a ride to a specific location. Critically to this case, when customers open an account with Uber, they see black text at the bottom of the registration screen advising that “by creating an Uber account, you agree to the TERMS OF SERVICE & PRIVACY POLICY.” The phrase “terms of service” is in blue font and hyperlinked to a page where the customer can read those terms. The terms include an arbitration agreement that waives the right to any class or consolidated action.
A potential class of Uber customers started a lawsuit in New York alleging that Uber allows illegal price fixing. In response, Uber first moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Upon losing that motion, Uber moved to compel arbitration and the federal district court denied that motion also, finding that the parties never formed an arbitration agreement because the consumers did not meaningfully consent.
On appeal, the Second Circuit vacated and remanded. It applied California contract law in its de novo review, and applied California’s rule that a customer who lacks actual notice of the terms of an agreement can be bound if a “reasonably prudent user would be on inquiry notice of the terms.” In its analysis, the court noted that Uber did not use a “clickwrap” agreement, which involves consumers having to click “I agree” after being presented with a list of terms and conditions, and which is “routinely uph[e]ld” by courts. Even so, the court concluded that the design of the registration screens were clear enough to put the plaintiff on inquiry notice of the arbitration provision. What were those design features?
- Hyperlinked text to terms and conditions appears right below the registration button;
- The entire screen is visible at once (no scrolling required);
- The screen is “uncluttered”; and
- Although font is “small,” dark print contrasts with white background.
Therefore, the Second Circuit concluded that the named plaintiff “agreed to arbitrate his claims with Uber.” However, the Court threw the class a bone by remanding on the question of whether Uber waived its right to arbitrate by bringing the motion to dismiss on the merits.
What’s fascinating about this opinion is not just that Uber is a famous company that is facing intriguing antitrust allegation. No, what’s fascinating from the arbitration angle is that the Second Circuit came out on the opposite side of this same issue almost exactly one year ago in Nicosia v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2016 WL 4473225 (Aug. 25, 2016). The same judge wrote both opinions.
In Nicosia, the named class representative had placed an order on Amazon in 2012. Instead of a true “clickwrap” agreement, there was simply language on the Order Page stating that “by placing your order, you agree to Amazon.com’s privacy notice and conditions of use.” The conditions of use were hyperlinked to the relevant terms. Sounds pretty much the same as Uber’s setup, right? Well, applying Washington law, the Second Circuit found that reasonable minds could differ about whether that notice was sufficiently conspicuous to be binding. It complained that the critical sentence was in a “smaller font,” that there were too many other distracting things taking place on the order page (summary of purchase and delivery information, suggestions to try Amazon Locker, opportunity to enter gift cards and have a free trial of Amazon Prime, for example.) There were other links on the page, in different colors and fonts. Critically, it found “[n]othing about the’Place your order’ button alone suggests that additional terms apply, and the presentation of terms is not directly adjacent to the ‘Place your Order” button…” Therefore, the Second Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal based on the arbitration provision.
As the fundamental context of on-line purchases has not changed in the last year, and the Second Circuit’s recitation of California and Washington law appears pretty similar, one has to conclude that the difference between these two cases is the graphic design of the key pages. In particular, the level of “clutter” on Amazon’s page is the primary difference-maker between these two cases. I imagine many internet retailers will reconsider the number of fonts, colors, and promotions on their final “order” pages this next week…