“The Northern District of Illinois Dismisses Motion to Compel Arbitration in a FDCPA Class Action, Emphasizing the Dangers of an Inadequate Corporate Declaration”

In this article, published in Lexology, Kim Gershen and Megan Burns of Troutman Pepper, discuss the decision in Frank Gilbert v. I.C. System, Inc., where the court found that a conclusory declaration regarding the plaintiff’s ostensible acceptance of arbitration terms, when he “was provided with the Terms and Conditions when he began his Sprint account” and agreed to them “through his use and payment of the account services,” was insifficient to enable the court to conduct its requisite “fact-intensive” inquiry. The authors caution counsel about “the importance of a factually developed and nonconclusory corporate declaration in supporting a motion to compel arbitration.”