Customers suing over fake Wells Fargo accounts are sent to arbitration
Wells Fargo customers who tried to sue over fake accounts set up in their names have learned they can’t take their cases to the courthouse.
Federal and state judges in California have ruled the cases must go to arbitration because of agreements the customers signed when opening legitimate accounts, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The suits have claimed Wells Fargo employees used information from customers’ original accounts to open new accounts that boosted the employees’ sales figures, but created more fees for the customers.
Courthouse News Service reports on a September decision (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco, who found the arbitration agreement gave an arbitrator the power to decide the threshold question of whether the plaintiffs’ dispute with Wells Fargo was subject to arbitration.
Chhabria said the plaintiffs’ suit fell within the scope of the broad arbitration provisions, including one covering “any unresolved disagreement between or among you and the bank.”
