Liking Away Your Rights to Litigation

One of my daily routines is to log on to dealnews every morning to see what some of the best shopping deals are of the day.  From technology to clothing, the site gives you a good idea of what kinds of sales and deals to be looking for if you are looking for something.

Every now and then their editors come up with some really interesting articles and/or videos.  I wanted to share one of them with you today.  You may have already seen or heard about this story, as it has been out a few weeks, but its really been on my mind lately and I wanted to share and solicit your responses.

It has been reported by various media, including the New York Times, that General Mills changed their legal policy so that if a customer "likes" them on social media or downloads an online coupon, that customer gives up all rights to take full legal action against the company.  In effect, you are only allowed to go into binding arbitration instead of a lawsuit.  While companies are starting to protect themselves from class action lawsuits by implementing standard-form contracts that require disputes to be raised only through the informal mechanism of arbitration and that claims be brought one by one, this appears to be the first attempt to limit litigation via changing legal terms on the web and social media.

For more online reading, Google "general mills like away right to litigation".  Here is the video I promised from dealnews  as well as a "retraction" from General Mills.

What are your thoughts?  Any company has an obvious right to protect it's investors from suit, but is this going too far?

Brent H. O'Connor
Executive Producer