More Than a Coin Flip: Bielski v. Coinbase and the Presumption in Favor of Arbitration

Arbitration agreements are frequently found in consumer contracts, diverting disputes away from litigation and toward arbitration, in which a third party resolves the dispute and renders a binding award. Parties often challenge the enforceability of arbitration agreements and seek to bring the issue to court, where they believe litigation of a dispute would be advantageous under the circumstances. This can be viewed as a game, with arbitration on one side and litigation on the other. It seems obvious that, as with most games, both teams would begin on equal footing, each with the same chance of winning—think of the jump ball in basketball or the coin flip in football. However, challenges to arbitration agreements do not begin on a level playing field. Instead, arbitration starts with the ball— and that’s not a bad thing.