Professor Horton Comments for Vice on Arbitration Clauses and Employee Contracts

Professor David Horton commented for Vice on the arbitration clauses that have become part of many companies’ employment agreements and how they impact the ability of employees to seek legal recourse for discrimination, retaliation, and other claims.

“For a long time there was a concerted effort made on behalf of businesses to get the Supreme Court to allow the use of arbitration clauses as a shield against class-action lawsuits,” said Horton. “Employers will say an arbitration clause benefits everybody because it allows you to get a ruling that’s quicker and cheaper, and it’s confidential so an employee can be more comfortable sharing embarrassing incidents.”

Professor Horton joined the King Hall faculty in 2012.  His primary research and teaching interests are wills and trusts, contracts, and arbitration law.  In 2015, his article "In Partial Defense of Probate: Evidence from Alameda County, California" was selected as the winner of the 29th annual Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Scholarly Paper Competition and he was honored with UC Davis School of Law’s Distinguished Teaching Award.