Ninth Circuit Upholds Decision Compelling Arbitration Based on Terms of Use in Hyperlinks

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a decision compelling arbitration based on an arbitration provision in website “terms of use,” even though those terms were in a hyperlink.

In Patrick v. Running Warehouse LLC, a group of consumers brought six putative class actions against online sporting goods retailers after their personal information was exposed in a data breach. When purchasing goods from the defendants’ websites, they had to click a button that said “place order” or “submit order.” Next to that button was a statement that read: “By submitting your order you ... agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.” The phrase “terms of use” was a hyperlink that led to the defendants’ terms of use, which contained an arbitration provision.

The defendants move to compel arbitration based on the arbitration provision in the terms of use. The district court granted that motion and the plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed.

The plaintiffs primarily argued that the websites provided insufficient notice of the arbitration provisions. The Ninth Circuit rejected that argument. It noted that inquiry notice was sufficient as long as “the website provides reasonably conspicuous notice of the terms to which the consumer will be bound; and (2) the consumer takes some action, such as clicking a button or checking a box, that unambiguously manifests his or her assent to those terms.” The court noted that hyperlinks can satisfy that standard as long as they are “displayed in a font size and format such that the court can fairly assume that a reasonably prudent Internet user would have seen it.” The defendants’ hyperlinks satisfied that standard because, for example, the notice was prominently displayed on an uncluttered page, clear and legible, and the “terms of use” hyperlink, colored bright green, was easily distinguishable and clearly clickable, resembling other links on the page.

The Ninth Circuit distinguished those facts from a case in which it recently held that there was insufficient inquiry notice because the “terms and conditions” in that case were printed in a tiny gray font much smaller than surrounding website elements, it was “barely legible to the naked eye.”

The Ninth Circuit also rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments that the arbitration provisions were invalid under California law and that they were unconscionable. The court further held that the parties delegated the question of arbitrability by invoking JAMS’ rules, which provide that arbitrability disputes are for the arbitrator, not the court.