Arbitration Provision
Provision for User Agreement and Website Access
Arbitration Provision.
This Arbitration Provision sets forth the circumstances and procedures under which a Claim or Claims (as defined below) may be arbitrated instead of litigated in court. This Arbitration Provision will apply to your (1) access to and/or use of this website (the "Website Access") and the User Agreement posted on this website, and/or (2) any service agreement between you and us for a financial service or product offered by us, where the terms of the service agreement specifically reference and incorporate therein this Arbitration Provision. This Arbitration Provision will apply to you, unless you notify us in writing that you reject the Arbitration Provision within 60 days of the date of (a) activity of your first Website Access relating to your Claim or (b) your use of our financial service or product. Send your rejection notice to the Customer Service Center at the address listed in the User Agreement. Your notice must include your name and post office address, your debit card number (if any) if your Claim relates to Website Access to online banking services, your email address, and must be signed by you. Your rejection notice should not include any other correspondence. Calling us to reject the Arbitration Provision or providing notice by any other manner or format than as described above will not operate as a rejection of this Arbitration Provision and consequently this Arbitration Provision will apply to you and your Claim. Rejection of this Arbitration Provision does not serve as rejection of any other term or condition of the User Agreement or any other applicable agreement with us. This Arbitration Provision will not apply to Claims previously asserted, or which are later asserted, in lawsuits filed before the effective date of this Arbitration Provision or any prior arbitration provision between you and us, whichever is earlier.
As used in this Arbitration Provision, the word "Claim" or "Claims" means any claim, dispute, or controversy between you and us arising from or relating to the User Agreement or your Website Access, including, without limitation, the validity, enforceability, or scope of this Arbitration Provision or the User Agreement. "Claim" or "Claims" includes claims of every kind and nature, whether pre-existing, present, or future. The word "Claim" or "Claims" is to be given the broadest possible meaning and includes, by way of example and without limitation, any claim, dispute, or controversy that arises from or relates to (a) any Website Access subject to the terms of the User Agreement, (b) any Products or Materials (as defined in the User Agreement), and (c) advertisements, promotions, or oral or written statements related to the User Agreement, your Website Access, or such Products or Materials. As used in this Arbitration Provision, the terms "we", "us" "our" refer collectively to KeyCorp, KeyBank N.A. and their respective subsidiaries.
Any Claim shall be resolved, upon the election of you or us, by binding arbitration pursuant to this Arbitration Provision and the applicable rules of either JAMS or FORUM in effect at the time the Claim is filed (the "Arbitration Rules"). You may select one of these organizations to serve as the arbitration administrator if you initiate an arbitration against us or if either you or we compel arbitration of a Claim that the other party has brought in court. In addition, if we intend to initiate an arbitration against you, we will notify you in writing and give you twenty (20) days to select one of these organizations to serve as the arbitration administrator; if you fail to select an administrator within that twenty (20)-day period, we will select one. In all cases, the arbitrator(s) should be a lawyer with more than ten (10) years of experience or a retired judge. If for any reason the selected organization is unable or unwilling or ceases to serve as the arbitration administrator, you will have twenty (20) days to select a different administrator from the above list; if you fail to select a different administrator within the twenty (20)-day period, we will select one. In all cases, a party who has asserted a Claim in a lawsuit in court may elect arbitration with respect to any Claim(s) subsequently asserted in that lawsuit by any other party or parties.
IF ARBITRATION IS CHOSEN BY ANY PARTY WITH RESPECT TO A CLAIM, NEITHER YOU NOR WE WILL HAVE THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE THAT CLAIM IN COURT OR HAVE A JURY TRIAL ON THAT CLAIM, OR TO ENGAGE IN PRE-ARBITRATION DISCOVERY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED FOR IN THE APPLICABLE ARBITRATION RULES. FURTHER, YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF ANY CLASS OF CLAIMANTS PERTAINING TO ANY CLAIM SUBJECT TO ARBITRATION. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH BELOW, THE ARBITRATOR'S DECISION WILL BE FINAL AND BINDING. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU WOULD HAVE IF YOU WENT TO COURT MAY ALSO NOT BE AVAILABLE IN ARBITRATION. THE FEES CHARGED BY THE ARBITRATION ADMINISTRATOR MAY BE GREATER THAN THE FEES CHARGED BY A COURT.
There shall be no authority for any Claims to be arbitrated on a class action or private attorney general basis. Furthermore, arbitration can only decide your or our Claim(s) and may not consolidate or join the claims of other persons that may have similar claims. There shall be no pre-arbitration discovery except as provided for in the applicable Arbitration Rules. Any arbitration hearing that you attend shall take place in the federal judicial district of your residence. At your written request, we will pay all fees up to $100.00 charged by the arbitration administrator for any Claim(s) asserted by you in the arbitration, after you have paid an amount equivalent to the fee, if any, for filing such Claim(s) in state or federal court (whichever is less) in the judicial district in which you reside. (If you have already paid a filing fee for asserting the Claim(s) in court, you will not be required to pay that amount again.) If you are required to pay any fees in excess of $100.00 to the arbitration administrator ("additional fees"), we will consider a request by you to pay all or part of the additional fees. To the extent that we do not approve your request, the arbitrator will decide whether we or you will be responsible for paying any such additional fees. If the arbitrator issues an award in our favor, you will not be required to reimburse us for any of the fees we have previously paid to the administrator or for which we are responsible. Each party shall bear the expense of that party's attorneys', experts', and witness fees, regardless of which party prevails in the arbitration, unless applicable law and/or the User Agreement gives a party the right to recover any of those fees from the other party.
This Arbitration Provision is made pursuant to a transaction involving interstate commerce, and shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), 9 U.S.C. Sections 1 et seq. The arbitrator shall apply applicable substantive law consistent with the FAA and applicable statutes of limitations and shall honor claims of privilege recognized at law and, at the timely request of any party, shall provide a brief written explanation of the basis for the award. In conducting the arbitration proceeding, the arbitrator shall not apply the federal or any state rules of civil procedure or rules of evidence. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding, except for any right of appeal provided by the FAA and except that, if the amount in controversy exceeds $10,000.00, any party can appeal the award to a three-arbitrator panel administered by the arbitration administrator which shall reconsider de novo (i.e., without regard to the original arbitrator's findings) any aspect of the initial award requested by the appealing party. The decision of the panel shall be by majority vote. The costs of such an appeal will be borne by the appealing party regardless of the outcome of the appeal. You and we shall keep confidential any decision of an arbitrator made with respect to any Claim(s) arbitrated under this Arbitration Provision and, with the exception of disclosure to your or our attorneys, accountants, auditors, and other legal or financial advisors, shall not disclose such decision to any other person.
This Arbitration Provision shall survive expiry of your Website Access subject to the User Agreement and any termination of the User Agreement. If any portion of this Arbitration Provision is deemed invalid or unenforceable under any law or statute consistent with the FAA, it shall not invalidate the remaining portions of this Arbitration Provision or the User Agreement. In the event of a conflict or inconsistency between the applicable Arbitration Rules and this Arbitration Provision, this Arbitration Provision shall govern.
Contacting Arbitration Administrators
If you have a question about the arbitration administrators mentioned in this Arbitration Provision or would like to obtain a copy of their Arbitration Rules or fee schedules, you can contact them as follows: JAMS, 222 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 1850, Chicago, IL 60606, www.jamsadr.com, (800) 352-5267, Financial Services Arbitration Rules and Procedures, or FORUM, P.O. Box 50191, Minneapolis, MN 55405, www.forumadr.com, (800) 474-2371, Code of Procedure.