The Model State Consumer & Employment Justice Enforcement Act (2017)

The Model State Consumer & Employment Justice Enforcement Act (2017) includes 10 titles setting out state law provisions that are not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act and that limit selected abuses related to mandatory arbitration requirements:

• Title I provides for whistleblowers to bring public enforcement actions to enforce worker and consumer protections on behalf of the state. 
• Title II prohibits state contractors from enforcing forced arbitration agreements against any of their consumers and employees. 
• Title III requires that merchants and employers provide clear notice of all material terms in a single document.
• Title IV sets out types of contractual terms related to dispute resolution that are presumptively unconscionable. 
• Title V prohibits enforcement of forced arbitration clauses in employment and consumer contracts not covered by the Federal Arbitration Act. 
• Title VI requires private companies that administer arbitrations to disclose certain data.
• Title VII removes the jurisdiction of appellate courts to consider appeals from denials of motions to compel arbitration. 
• Title VIII prevents arbitration administrators from allowing a respondent to stall an arbitration by refusing to pay. 
• Title IX ensures that an arbitration clause is not held procedurally conscionable solely because it contains an opt-out provision.
• Title X would clarify that courts should consider whether severing only unconscionable terms from a contact would create an incentive to include such terms and whether the unconscionable terms create an in terrorem effect.