Class Arbitration Waivers: The "Severability" Doctrine and Its Consequences.

The article reports on the enforcement of class arbitration waivers and its impact on arbitration clauses. A class arbitration combines elements of an arbitration and a class-action suit by importing collective bargaining into the arbitration process. The use of class arbitration was implicitly validated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Green Tree Financial Corp v. Bazzle. In the case of Kristian vs. Comcast Corp., the 1st District Court ruled the class arbitration waiver in the customer service agreement of the cable company Comcast was unenforceable and severed that portion of the clause, allowing a class arbitration to proceed. Self regulating organizations (SRO) such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have opted against class arbitration.