State Supreme Court hears challenge to Best Buy arbitration clause in Johnson case

The State Supreme Court heard argument in Johnson v. Best Buy on whether an arbitration provision embedded in an online job application can strip an employee of the right to a jury trial. Carla Akins, counsel for the petitioner Johnson, told the court that the case is a contract-formation and unconscionability question: "What permits a court simply to presume that clicking through that process means I knowingly surrender my right to have a jury decide what happens if this company later violates my rights?" Akins emphasized that click-through repetition should not be treated as dispositive proof of assent.