Arbitration: Unauthorized Practice Claim – Class Action Provision – Car Purchase Agreement

Ruhl v. Lee’s Summit Honda (MLW No. 59813/Case No. WD70189 – 11 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Newton, C.J.)

Where a new car buyer brought an action claiming the dealer engaged in deceptive practices under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and the unauthorized practice of law by charging a separate fee for the preparation of documents involved in the sale transaction, the claims are within the scope of the parties’ arbitration agreement and the unauthorized practice claim is suitable for arbitration, but the class-action waiver provision of the arbitration agreement is substantively unconscionable because it immunizes the dealer from consumer claims based on the charging of a document-preparation fee, so the class-waiver provision should be severed, and the case is reversed and remanded to the trial court for enforcement of the arbitration agreement without the class-action provision. 

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

Ruhl v. Lee’s Summit Honda (MLW No. 59813/Case No. WD70189 – 11 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Newton, C.J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Grate Jr., J. (Kevin D. Case and Patric S. Linden, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant) (Mitchell L. Burgess, Keith C. Lamb and Ralph K. Phalen, Kansas City, Mo., for respondent).

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