LAKEWOOD, Colo. — With us being legal news nerds here at 9NEWS, we spent time reading over the nearly 7,000 words that make up Casa Bonita’s terms of use and there’s something you should know when you sign up for a plate of sopapillas.
When you use the restaurant’s services and agree to the terms of service, you give up your rights to have any legal claim heard by a judge or a jury in a public court.
Instead, your case would be handled privately by arbitration. The person responsible for making the final decision on the case wouldn't be a jury or judge, but a person who could be hired by Casa Bonita.
“The reality is you’re giving up a very important right and you don’t know it,” said Whitney Traylor, 9NEWS legal expert.
“YOU ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE A DISPUTE IN COURT BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY,” an all-caps line reads in section 14 of the terms of service.
“I would assume 95% of the people who sign have no idea that they've given up their right to a jury trial,” Traylor said.
According to Traylor, the arbitration clause has become a common legal tactic companies place in their terms of service to protect themselves from customers who are seeking to sue them in public court. It also helps companies prevent cases from becoming scrutinized by the public in an open court setting.
“It’s deep down in the document. You don’t really have any power to go back and forth and negotiate. It is in legalese. It’s sort of a take it or leave it [situation],” Traylor said.
Depending on who you ask, arbitration clauses can make it difficult to hold a company accountable.
Recently, attorneys for Disney attempted to get a wrongful death lawsuit thrown out of court after a man sued the company after his wife died of an allergic reaction at Walt Disney World. Disney attorneys cited their arbitration clause in the Disney Plus terms of service.
Eventually, after bad publicity, Disney attorneys backtracked on their attempt to get the wrongful death lawsuit thrown out.
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