Hot Coffee:
Last week, you submitted your papers related to the Liebeck v. McDonald’s case, as portrayed by the Hot Coffee documentary. This week, we will discuss other aspects of the documentary that were not a party of the paper assignment, namely the issue of mandatory arbitration provisions in contracts. Please be sure to review that portion of the video as well this article Cup Half Full: “Hot Coffee” Serves Up Slanted View of Liability System.
Consider the issues presented in the documentary and the related articles and answer the questions below.
Questions
(1) What are mandatory arbitration provisions?
(2) What are the benefits and drawbacks of mandatory arbitration provisions?
(3) What do you think should be done with respect to mandatory arbitration provisions? You can be creative here and there isn’t one correct answer. Instead, I am looking for thoughtful and well-reasoned commentary on the issue. Remember, we all may have different opinions on the issue. The goal is to have a respectful and informative dialogue.
—