Re: Steam Backs Down From Forced Arbitration

On 9/28/2024 8:04 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sat, 28 Sep 2024 09:07:14 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

On 28/09/2024 01:32, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 

      [Fortunately, in many civilized --read, outside the USA--
       jurisdictions, forced arbitration is either illegal or
       greatly restricted. So if you're in the UK, Australia
       or many countries of the EU, any EULAs either won't have
       any forced arbitration clauses, or if they do, those
       clauses are unenforceable]

 

I did read about these rules in relation to Disney trying to claim that
as a husband had signed to to Disney+ many years ago he couldn't take
them to court after she died when they visited Disney World. My first
thought was, that's not a good look you're putting forward there Disney
and my second thought was, heh you can force people to go to
arbitration, how is that even legal.

 Yeah, that's a really fascinating case. A woman died due to a severe
allergy reaction at a restaurant on Disney grounds. The restaurant not
only specified that their food was allergen free on their
(Disney-sponsored) website, but assured the woman in person that the
meal she ordered didn't have any of the forbidden foods in it. The
family sued the restaurant (which was actually an independent company
that was providing food services for Disney) for negligence, and
Disney got roped into the case because Disney's website vouched for
the restaurant.
 Meanwhile, Disney argued that because the defendants had only found
this information using their Disney account (it's a shared account
that offers access not only to the Disney+ TV and film library, but
also can be used for ticketing and reservations on Disney websites),
the forced arbitration clause of Disney+ bound the people... despite
the fact the actual reservation wasn't made through Disney+.
 Elon Musk also tried to use forced arbitration on his (former) Twitter
employees after they sued him for not giving them their severance
payments in a timely manner. But, like Steam, he had to back down when
the sheer number of arbitration claims made the costs skyrocket so it
would have cost more than actually just paying the severance. (Musk is
not the brightest of bulbs).
 

I don't think Musk is stupid, he just has a colossal ego and is something of a bully.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.