§ 1281.96.Information Required By Private Arbitration Company Administering Consumer Arbitration

This section trades the usual privacy of arbitration for public accountability in the consumer context. A private arbitration company that administers or is otherwise involved in consumer arbitrations has to collect and publish, at least quarterly, a cumulative report covering every consumer arbitration from the preceding five years -- posted on the company's own website if it has one, and available on paper to anyone who asks.

The report has to cover a long list of specifics for each case: whether arbitration was triggered by a predispute clause and whether that clause named the company; the identity and role of the business-side party; the type of dispute, drawn from categories like goods, credit, insurance, health care, construction, real estate, or employment (with wage ranges for employment cases); who prevailed; how often the business-side party has used this company before, in arbitration or mediation; whether the consumer had a lawyer, and who that lawyer was; the case's timeline from filing to disposition; how the case resolved -- withdrawal, settlement, award, default, or dismissal, and whether any hearing was in person, remote, or documents-only; the amounts claimed and awarded, including fees; the arbitrator's identity, total fee, and how that fee was split between the parties; and aggregate demographic data about the pool of arbitrators.

The information has to be searchable and sortable with ordinary software, reachable through a clearly labeled link on the company's website. Companies can charge only actual copying costs for paper requests when the online version is free and accessible; if there's no accessible online version, paper copies have to be free. A narrow exception lets small providers -- those handling fewer than 50 consumer arbitrations a year and receiving certain state dispute-resolution funding -- report semiannually instead of quarterly, and on paper only.