SquareTrade Consumer Keeps Protection Plan Class Action in Court

SquareTrade Inc. can’t send a consumer class action over its product protection plans to arbitration, the Second Circuit affirmed Jan. 10.

The consumer isn’t bound by the arbitration clause in the company’s terms and conditions because he didn’t have reasonable notice it existed, Judge Gerard E. Lynch wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The court stressed it wasn’t holding that the terms of a contract can’t be provided in a hyperlinked document. But the company must direct the buyer’s attention to a conspicuous hyperlink clearly identified as containing terms to which the customer is bound ...