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Contracts Keyed to Barnett
Discover Bank v. Superior Court
Citation:
36 Cal. 4th 148 (2005)Facts
Christopher Boehr held a credit card issued by Discover Bank, which included a cardholder agreement containing an arbitration clause. In December 1999, Discover Bank added a notice to its cardholder agreement stating that any claims must be arbitrated individually and not as part of a class action. Boehr filed a class action lawsuit in August 2001 against Discover Bank, alleging that the bank had a practice of representing to cardholders that payment would not be due until a certain date but then imposing late fees on payments received after 1:00 p.m. on that date. Boehr claimed this practice violated California’s unfair competition law and sought monetary damages. Discover Bank moved to compel arbitration according to the terms of the cardholder agreement, which prohibited class actions.
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