Resolution of Disputes By Arbitration: This section contains important information regarding your accounts and all related services. It provides that either you or we can require that any disputes be resolved by binding arbitration. Arbitration replaces the right to go to court, including the right to a jury trial and the right to participate in a class action or similar proceeding. In arbitration. the dispute is submitted to a neutral party, an arbitrator, instead of a judge or jury. Arbitration procedures may be more limited than rules applicable in court.
Agreement to Arbitrate Disputes.
Either You or We may elect, without the other’s consent, to require that any dispute between us concerning Your Accounts and the services related to your Accounts be resolved by binding arbitration, except for those disputes specifically excluded below.
This arbitration agreement is entered into pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 – 16 (the “FAA”).
Disputes Covered by Arbitration.
Claims or disputes between you and us arising out of or relating to your Account(s), transactions involving your Account(s), safe deposit box, and any related service with us are subject to arbitration. Any claims or disputes arising from or relating to this agreement, any prior account agreement between us, or the advertising, the application for, or the approval or establishment of your account are also included. Claims are subject to arbitration, regardless of what theory they are based on or whether they seek legal or equitable remedies. Arbitration applies to any and all such claims or disputes, whether they arose in the past, may currently exist or may arise in the future. Disputes also include claims or disputes relating to the enforceability, validity, scope or interpretation of any of these arbitration provisions. Any questions about whether disputes are subject to arbitration shall be resolved by interpreting this arbitration provision in the broadest way the law will allow it to be enforced. All such disputes are referred to in this section as “Claims”.
An exception to arbitration of Claims is that both you and we have the right to pursue a Claim in a small claims court instead of arbitration, if the Claim is in that court’s jurisdiction and proceeds on an individual basis. Claims or disputes arising from your status as a borrower under any loan agreement with the Credit Union are also excluded from this Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision.
No Class Action or Joinder of Parties.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT You and we agree that no class action, class-wide arbitration, private attorney general action, or other proceeding where someone acts in a representative capacity, may be pursued in ANY arbitration OR IN aNY court proceeding, REGARDLESS OF when THE CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION AROSE OR ACCRUED, OR WHEN THE ALLEGATIONS OR FACTS UNDERLYING THE CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION OCCURRED. Unless mutually agreed to by you and us, claims of two or more persons may not be joined, consolidated, or otherwise brought together in the same arbitration (unless those persons are joint account holders or beneficiaries on your account and/or related accounts, or parties to a single transaction or related transaction), whether or not the claim may have been assigned.
Right to Reject this Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision.
You have the right to opt out of this agreement to arbitrate if you tell us within 30 days of the date a notice of this Arbitration Provision being added to the Membership Agreement was placed in the mail or email to the address you provided, if applicable, or within 30 days of first being sent or offered any copy of our Membership Agreement with an Arbitration Provision in it, whichever is sooner. To opt out, send us written notice that you reject the Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision, including your name as listed on your account and your account number to the following address: XYZ FCU, Address, City, State, zip.
Otherwise, this agreement to arbitrate will apply without limitation, regardless of whether 1) your account is closed; 2) you pay us in full any outstanding debt you owe; or 3) you file for bankruptcy.
The Arbitration Proceeding.
The arbitration must be filed with one of the following neutral arbitration forums: American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) or JAMS. For AAA, the arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the AAA Consumer Due Process Protocol in concert with the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. For JAMS, the arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules & Procedures. If there is a conflict between a particular provision of the AAA or JAMS Rules and this arbitration provision and/or this agreement, this arbitration provision and this agreement will control. If JAMS or the AAA is unable or unwilling to handle the claim for any reason, then the matter shall be arbitrated by a neutral arbitrator selected by agreement of the parties (or, if the parties cannot agree, selected by a court in accordance with the FAA). The neutral arbitrator selected by the parties or the court shall apply the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Procedure concerning discovery, except that the above class action waiver is specifically enforceable notwithstanding any Federal Rule of Procedure to the contrary.
Costs.
The party initiating the arbitration shall pay the initial filing fee. If You file the arbitration and an award is rendered in Your favor, We will reimburse You for Your filing fee. If there is a hearing, We will pay the fees and costs of the arbitration for the first day of that hearing. All other fees and costs will be allocated in accordance with the rules of the arbitration forum. However, We will advance or reimburse filing and other fees if the arbitrator rules that You cannot afford to pay them or finds other good cause for requiring Us to do so, or if you ask us in writing and we determine there is good reason for doing so. Each party shall bear the expense of their respective attorneys, experts, and witnesses and other expenses, regardless of who prevails, but a party may recover any or all costs and expenses from another party if the arbitrator, applying applicable law, so determines.
Right to Resort to Provisional Remedies Preserved.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to limit or constrain our right to resort to self-help remedies, such as the right of set-off or the right to restrain funds in an account, to interplead funds in the event of a dispute, to exercise any security interest or lien we may hold in property, or to comply with legal process, or to obtain provisional remedies such as injunctive relief, attachment, or garnishment by a court having appropriate jurisdiction; provided, however, that you or we may elect to arbitrate any dispute related to such provisional remedies.
Severability, Survival.
These arbitration provisions shall survive (a) termination or changes to Your accounts or any related services; (b) the bankruptcy of any party; and (c) the transfer or assignment of your Accounts or any related services. If any portion of this Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision is deemed invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision shall remain in force. No portion of this Resolution of Disputes by Arbitration provision may be amended, severed, or waived absent a written agreement between You and Us.
