A common practice by various telecommunication companies is to advertise specific phones for “free” when consumers sign up for the company’s wireless service. Considering how expensive cell phones are, this business practice leads excites consumers and leads to them considering the offer. They seem like spectacular deals at face value because instead of paying for a phone upfront or in payments. With this offer the consumer most likely only has to worry about paying for their cellular service plan. It is common for the contracts for these types of offers to include terms of the agreement that may include hidden fees, term length and even the waiving of class-action. This was the specific circumstance that caused the Concepcion’s to seek legal action against AT&T. In this paper, I will be discussing the case of AT&T …show more content…
Concepcion deals with two specific aspects of contract law which is arbitration and class-action. Arbitration allows for a company to avoid having to formally go to court by dealing with issues through an arbitrator. These types of cases are difficult to appeal in court because “The arbitrator has the power to make a final, binding decision.” The process is much more cost and time effective than going through the court system. Class-actions on the other hand are when a collection of people with similar circumstance come together and file a suit, which creates one large case. These cases are tried in the legal court systems and “can be tried in either the federal or state courts.” Class-actions could be both very costly and time consuming compared to arbitrations. The Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 has played a vital role in the how and why the decision that was made by the Supreme Court of the United States. The FAA makes “provisions or agreements for arbitration of disputes from contracts valid and enforceable.” This allows for companies to hold arbitration to resolve disputes and avoid class-action