The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act: Mandatory Arbitration Provisions
The Wall Street Reform bill has a lot of stuff in it. If you have time to kill, you can pore through the actual text of the legislation here. If you’re looking for something beyond the relatively superficial accounts in the newspapers, a few big law firms have already produced impressive summaries of the legislation, including Davis Polk, Mayer Brown, and Skadden. Davis Polk also created a nifty set of slides showing the complex implementation process for the legislation (skip to slide 24 for the consumer financial protection provisions). By their count, the bill will require a whopping 243 rulemakings and 67 studies.
One sure-to-be-closely-watched study/rulemaking combination is called for by Sec. 1028, which requires the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to conduct a study of, and provide a report to Congress concerning, the use of mandatory pre-dispute arbitration in consumer financial services. The Bureau then has the authority, by rulemaking, to "prohibit or impose conditions or limitations on the use of" mandatory arbitration clauses, consistent with the study. This provision had its origins in the Obama Administration’s initial white paper on financial reform and, amazingly, it stayed in the legislation all the way.
Needless to say, Sec. 1028 is an enormous step forward in the campaign to end forced arbitration in the consumer-protection context. Corporate lobbyists, however, will use every opportunity to thwart a pro-consumer rulemaking and will likely return to Congress if they don’t like what the study says.
The Act also confers similar authority on the SEC to ban mandatory arbitration in the securities context (Sec. 921) and flatly prohibits mandatory arbitration in mortgage and home equity loans–without the need for any further study or rulemaking (Sec. 1414). Finally, the Act bans mandatory arbitration that would waive protections for those who blow the whistle on securities fraud (Sec. 922) and commodities fraud (Sec. 748). The text of Sec. 1028 is below the jump.
SEC. 1028. AUTHORITY TO RESTRICT MANDATORY PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION.
(a) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Bureau shall conduct a study of, and shall provide a report to Congress concerning, the use of agreements providing for arbitration of any future dispute between covered persons and consumers in connection with the offering or providing of consumer financial products or services.
(b) FURTHER AUTHORITY.—The Bureau, by regulation, may prohibit or impose conditions or limitations on the use of an agreement between a covered person and a consumer for a consumer financial product or service providing for arbitration of any future dispute between the parties, if the Bureau finds that such a prohibition or imposition of conditions or limitations is in the public interest and for the protection of consumers. The findings in such rule shall be consistent with the study conducted under subsection (a).
(c) LIMITATION.—The authority described in subsection (b) may not be construed to prohibit or restrict a consumer from entering into a voluntary arbitration agreement with a covered person after a dispute has arisen.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any regulation prescribed by the Bureau under subsection (b) shall apply, consistent with the terms of the regulation, to any agreement between a consumer and a covered person entered into after the end of the 180-day period beginning on the effective date of the regulation, as established by the Bureau.