AFSA Joins Amicus Filing
AFSA recently joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in filing a coalition amicus brief urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to hold that a unilateral change-in-terms provision does not render an arbitration agreement illusory and unenforceable. AFSA and the Chamber are arguing for a reversal of the district court’s decision in Ford v. Genesis Financial, which declared the parties’ arbitration agreement to be illusory. This decision was based on an erroneous reading of Maryland law, which discriminates against arbitration and failed to apply other terms agreed to by the parties, including a Utah choice-of-law clause.
The brief reinforces that arbitration is speedy, fair, inexpensive, and less adversarial than litigation. Both AFSA and the Chamber’s members and affiliates have entered millions of contractual relationships providing for arbitration precisely to achieve those benefits. This issue has significant widespread impact on the integrity of arbitration provisions and preserving the parties’ contractual rights.
July 8th, 2024
