Sabia v. Orange County Metro Realty, Inc.
California Court of Appeal
173 Cal. Rptr. 3d 485 (2014)
Frank Sabia and other class members (plaintiffs) sued The Home Defender Center (Home Defender) (defendant), a mortgage-foreclosure consultant, alleging it duped Spanish-speaking customers into signing English-language loan-modification agreements (verbally explained only in Spanish) that were contracts of adhesion, kept fees for services never rendered, and included a one-way arbitration clause requiring only the class members, not Home Defender, to arbitrate claims. The trial court upheld the arbitration provision, and Sabia appealed.
Whether an arbitration clause is unenforceable under the doctrine of unconscionability if it was obtained by unfair means and unreasonably favors one party.