Douglas v. United States District Court for the Central District of California

Joe Douglas (plaintiff) had a phone-service contract with Talk America (defendant). Talk America later added four new provisions, including an arbitration clause, but only posted the changes on its website rather than notifying customers directly. Douglas's account was on autopay, so he never visited the site and never saw the changes. When Douglas discovered them, he filed a class action; Talk America moved to compel arbitration under the added clause, and the district court granted the motion. Douglas sought a writ of mandamus to vacate that order.