From FOI Amy Schmitz:

This might be a good exercise example or something to use in classes, as we plan our fall term. Starbucks sent a new change for their TOS today and a big part of the change was related to Dispute Resolution. Here is the new provision:

“Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights. It provides for resolution of most disputes through individual arbitration instead of court trials and class actions. Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court, uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, and discovery is more limited. Arbitration is final and binding and subject to only very limited review by a court. This section also contains a jury trial waiver and a waiver of any and all rights to proceed in a class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general or representative action in arbitration, or litigation to the fullest extent allowable by applicable law.

• Binding Arbitration. This provision is intended to be interpreted broadly. Any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use, your access to or participation in Starbucks Rewards, or your relationship with Starbucks or any past, present, or future subsidiary, parent or affiliate company or companies, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other legal theory (“Dispute”), will be resolved through binding individual arbitration, except that either of us may take a Dispute to small claims court so long as it isn’t removed or appealed to a court of general jurisdiction. Dispute shall include, but not be limited to: (a) any dispute or claim that arose before the existence of these or any prior Terms of Use (including, but not limited to, claims relating to advertising); (b) any dispute or claim that is currently the subject of purported class action litigation in which you are not a member of a certified class; and (c) any dispute or claim that may arise after termination of these Terms of Use. Dispute, however, does not include disagreements or claims concerning patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets and claims of piracy or unauthorized use of intellectual property. The arbitrator shall decide all issues except the following (which are for a court of competent jurisdiction to decide): (a) issues that are reserved for a court in these Terms of Use; (b) issues that relate to the scope, validity, and enforceability of the arbitration agreement, class action waiver, or any of the provisions of this Dispute Resolution section; and (c) issues that relate to the arbitrability of any Dispute. These Terms of Use and this arbitration agreement do not prevent you from bringing a Dispute to the attention of any government agency. You and we agree that these Terms of Use evidence a transaction in interstate commerce and that this arbitration agreement will be interpreted and enforced in accordance with the Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law.
• Mandatory Informal Dispute Resolution Process. You and we agree to work together in an effort to informally resolve any Dispute between us. The party initiating the Dispute must send the other a written notice of the Dispute that includes all of this information: (a) information sufficient to identify any transaction and account at issue; (b) contact information (including name, address, telephone number, and email address); and (c) a detailed description of the nature and basis of the Dispute and the relief sought, including a calculation for it. The notice must be personally signed by the party initiating the Dispute (and their counsel, if represented). If you have the Dispute with us, you must send this notice to our Customer Service department using the appropriate link at https://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/contact/ask/. If we have a Dispute with you, we will send this notice to the most recent contact information we have for you. For a period of 60 days from receipt of a completed notice (which can be extended by agreement of the parties), you and we agree to negotiate in good faith in an effort to informally resolve the Dispute. The party receiving the notice may request a telephone settlement conference to aid in the resolution of the Dispute. If such a conference is requested, you and a Starbucks representative will personally attend (with counsel, if represented). The conference will be scheduled for a mutually convenient time, which may be outside of the 60-day period. Completion of this Mandatory Informal Dispute Resolution Process (“Process”) is a condition precedent to initiating a claim in arbitration. If the sufficiency of a notice or compliance with this Process is at issue, such issue may be raised with and decided by a court of competent jurisdiction at either party’s election, and any arbitration shall be stayed. The court shall have the authority to enforce this condition precedent to arbitration, which includes the power to enjoin the filing or prosecution of arbitrations and the assessment or collection of arbitration fees. Nothing in this paragraph limits the right of a party to seek damages for non-compliance with this Process in arbitration. All applicable limitations periods (including statutes of limitations) will be tolled from the date of receipt of a completed notice through the conclusion of this Process. You or we may commence arbitration if the Dispute is not resolved through this Process.
• Arbitration Procedures. The arbitration of any Dispute shall be administered by and conducted in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), including the AAA’s Consumer Arbitration Rules (as applicable) (“AAA Rules”), as modified by this arbitration agreement. The AAA Rules are available online at www.adr.org. You and we understand and agree that the AAA’s administrative determination that this arbitration agreement comports with the Consumer Due Process Protocols is final and that neither a court nor an arbitrator has the authority to revisit it. If the AAA is unavailable or unwilling to administer the arbitration consistent with this arbitration agreement, the parties shall agree on an administrator that will do so. If the parties cannot agree, they shall petition a court of competent jurisdiction to appoint an administrator that will do so.
  
  An arbitration demand must be accompanied by a certification of compliance with the Process and be personally signed by the party initiating arbitration (and counsel, if represented). By submitting an arbitration demand, the party and counsel represent that, as in court, that they are complying with the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b). The arbitrator is authorized to impose any sanctions available under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 on represented parties and their counsel. You may choose to have the arbitration conducted by a phone, video, or in-person hearing, or through written submissions, except any Dispute seeking $25,000 or more, or injunctive relief, shall have an in-person or video hearing unless the parties agree otherwise. You and we reserve the right to request a hearing in any matter from the arbitrator. You and a Starbucks representative will personally appear at any hearing (with counsel, if represented). Any in-person hearing will be held in the county or parish in which you reside or at another mutually agreed location. An arbitrator may award on an individual basis any relief that would be available in a court, including injunctive or declaratory relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. To the fullest extent allowable by applicable law, you and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or our individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceeding. Further, unless both you and we agree otherwise, an arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims and may not otherwise preside over any form of class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceeding. An arbitrator must follow and enforce these Terms of Use as a court would. If, after exhaustion of all appeals, any of these prohibitions on non-individualized injunctive or declaratory relief and class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative proceedings are found to be unenforceable with respect to a particular claim or request for relief (such as a request for public injunctive relief), then such a claim or request for relief will be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, after all other claims and requests for relief are arbitrated.
  
  The arbitrator shall issue a reasoned written decision sufficient to explain essential findings and conclusions. The arbitrator shall apply the cost-shifting provisions of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 after entry of an award. Judgment on any arbitration award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction, except an award that has been satisfied may not be entered. An award shall have no preclusive effect in any other arbitration or proceeding in which you are not a named party.

• Costs of Arbitration. Payment of arbitration fees will be governed by the AAA Rules and fee schedule. You and we agree that the parties have a shared interest in reducing the costs and increasing the efficiencies associated with arbitration. Therefore, you or we may elect to engage with the AAA regarding arbitration fees, and you and we agree that the parties (and counsel, if represented) will work together in good faith to ensure that arbitration remains cost-effective for all parties.
• Additional Procedures for Multiple Case Filings. You and we agree that these Additional Procedures for Multiple Case Filings (in addition to the other provisions of this arbitration agreement) shall apply if you choose to participate in a Multiple Case Filing. If 25 or more similar Disputes (including yours) are asserted against Starbucks by the same or coordinated counsel or are otherwise coordinated (“Multiple Case Filing”), the resolution of your Dispute might be delayed and ultimately proceed in court. The parties agree that as part of these procedures, their counsel shall meet and confer in good faith in an effort to resolve the Disputes, streamline procedures, address the exchange of information, modify the number of Disputes to be adjudicated, and conserve the parties’ and the AAA’s resources.
  
  If your claim is part of a Multiple Case Filing, any applicable limitations periods (including statutes of limitations) shall be tolled for your Dispute from the time that your Dispute is first submitted to the AAA until your Dispute is selected to proceed as part of a staged process or is settled, withdrawn, otherwise resolved, or opted out of arbitration pursuant to this provision.
  
  STAGE ONE: If at least 100 Disputes are submitted as part of the Multiple Case Filing, counsel for the claimants and counsel for Starbucks shall each select 50 Disputes to be filed and to proceed as cases in individual arbitrations as part of this initial staged process. The number of Disputes to be selected to proceed in Stage One can be increased by agreement of counsel for the parties (and if there are fewer than 100 Disputes, all shall proceed individually in Stage One). Each of the 100 (or fewer) cases shall be assigned to a different arbitrator and proceed individually. If a case is withdrawn before the issuance of an arbitration award, another claim shall be selected to proceed as part of Stage One. The remaining Disputes shall not be filed or deemed filed in arbitration nor shall any arbitration fees be assessed or collected in connection with those claims. After this initial set of proceedings, counsel for the parties shall participate in a global mediation session with a retired federal or state court judge jointly selected by counsel in an effort to resolve the remaining Disputes (as informed by the adjudications of cases in Stage One), and Starbucks shall pay the mediator’s fee.
  
  STAGE TWO: If the remaining Disputes have not been resolved at the conclusion of Stage One, counsel for the claimants and counsel for Starbucks shall each select 100 Disputes per side to be filed and to proceed as cases in individual arbitrations as part of a second staged process. The number of Disputes to be selected to proceed as part of this second staged process can be increased by agreement of counsel for the parties (and if there are fewer than 200 Disputes, all shall proceed individually in Stage Two). No more than five cases may be assigned to a single arbitrator to proceed individually. If a case is withdrawn before the issuance of an arbitration award, another claim shall be selected to proceed as part of Stage Two. The remaining Disputes shall not be filed or deemed filed in arbitration nor shall any arbitration fees be assessed or collected in connection with those claims. After this second set of staged proceedings, the parties shall engage in a global mediation session of all remaining Disputes with a retired federal or state court judge jointly selected by counsel in an effort to resolve the remaining Disputes (as informed by the adjudications of cases in Stages One and Two), and Starbucks shall pay the mediator’s fee.
  
  Upon the completion of the mediation set forth in Stage Two, each remaining Dispute (if any) that is not settled or not withdrawn shall be opted out of arbitration and may proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction consistent with the remainder of the Terms of Use. Notwithstanding the foregoing, counsel for the parties may mutually agree in writing to proceed with the adjudication of some or all of the remaining Disputes in individual arbitrations consistent with the process set forth in Stage Two (except Disputes shall be randomly selected and mediation shall be elective by agreement of counsel) or through another mutually-agreeable process. A court of competent jurisdiction shall have the authority to enforce the Additional Procedures for Multiple Case Filings, including the power to enjoin the filing or prosecution of arbitrations and the assessment or collection of arbitration fees.
  
  The Additional Procedures for Multiple Case Filings provision and each of its requirements are essential parts of this arbitration agreement. If, after exhaustion of all appeals, a court of competent jurisdiction decides that the Additional Procedures for Multiple Case Filings apply to your Dispute and are not enforceable, then your Dispute shall not proceed in arbitration and shall only proceed in a court of competent jurisdiction consistent with the remainder of the Terms of Use.
• Future Changes to Arbitration Agreement. If we make any future changes to this arbitration agreement (other than a change to our contact information), you may reject any such change by sending your personally signed, written notice to the following address within 30 days of the change:
  
  Starbucks Corporation
  Law & Corporate Affairs
  2401 Utah Ave S, MS:S-LA1, Seattle, WA 98134
  Attention: Litigation Department
  
  Such written notice does not constitute an opt out of arbitration altogether. By rejecting any future change, you are agreeing that you will arbitrate any Dispute between you and Starbucks in accordance with this version of the arbitration agreement.
• Class Action Waiver and Jury Trial Waiver 
  You and we each agree that any proceeding, whether in arbitration or in court, will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, collective, consolidated, private attorney general, or representative action. You and we agree to waive any right to bring or to participate in such an action in arbitration or in court to the fullest extent allowable by applicable law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties retain the right to participate in a class-wide settlement.
  To the fullest extent allowable by applicable law, you and we waive the right to a jury trial.

GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms of Use or your access to or participation in Starbucks Rewards are governed by the laws of the state of Washington, United States of America, without regard to Washington’s conflict of laws rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall have no applicability. If the arbitration agreement is ever deemed unenforceable or void, or a dispute between the parties is not subject to arbitration, you irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal and state courts in King County, Washington, United States of America, for purposes of any legal action arising out of or related to access to or participation in Starbucks Rewards or these Terms of Use, and waive any objections as to personal jurisdiction or as to the laying of venue in such courts due to: (a) inconvenient forum or (b) any other basis or any right to seek to transfer or change venue of any such action to another court.

SEVERABILITY AND SURVIVAL

Except as otherwise provided herein, if any provision or part of a provision of these Terms of Use shall be deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision or part of the provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Use and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.”