Florida Supremes: Consumer Arb Clause Must Be In Language Customer Speaks

Not the actual car dealer.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled yesterday in Basulto v. Hialeah Auto., LLC that use of an English-only pre-dispute arbitration clause with customers who do not speak English (N.B. all of the contract documents were English-only) does not create a contractual "meeting of the minds," the offending clause is unenforceable, and the auto dealer's attempts to compel arbitration were denied.

The detailed opinion in Basulto v. Hialeah Auto., LLC, Case No. SC09-2358 (March 20, 2014), can be accessed aqui.