James v. McDonald's Corp.

James (plaintiff) bought fries during McDonald's (defendant) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" promotion, whose official rules — including an arbitration clause — were posted in-store, on tray liners, near the drive-thru, and referenced on the fry cartons. James claimed she received a stolen grand-prize card that McDonald's denied honoring, after it emerged that employees of the promotion's outside handler had stolen winning cards; she sued for fraud, alleging both wrongful denial of her prize and fraudulent inducement based on undisclosed odds. McDonald's moved to compel arbitration under the official rules; James argued she never agreed to those rules, but the district court compelled arbitration and dismissed her claims, which she appealed.