Law firms working for collectors file thousands of templated lawsuits at once. The goal is not to win in court, but to generate valuable 'default judgments' when the vast majority of debtors don't show up. This automated legal process transforms unsecured debts into garnishable assets.

Previously, disputing a small charge or arguing for a refund was not worth the time. Now, consumers and businesses can deploy AI agents to handle these negotiations endlessly and for free. This shift will force companies to re-evaluate policies around chargebacks and customer disputes.

Companies are adopting AI for dynamic pricing and customer service, leading to inconsistent, personalized outcomes. This parallels the injustice of forced arbitration, where secret, non-precedential rulings create an arbitrary system. Both trends undermine the societal expectation that similar situations yield similar results.

Learning from his legal battles at Tesla, Elon Musk is embedding a mandatory arbitration clause in SpaceX's IPO documents. This legal maneuver aims to prevent shareholders from pursuing certain legal claims in court, effectively shielding the company and its leadership from large, public shareholder lawsuits.

Opponents with deep pockets can initiate lawsuits not necessarily to win, but to drain a target's financial resources and create immense stress. The astronomical cost and duration of the legal battle serve as the true penalty, forcing many to fold regardless of their case's merit.

By using AI to respond to discovery requests instantly, plaintiff firms can force defense counterparts, who bill by the hour, to either spend significant time (and client money) responding or settle faster. This tactical use of AI directly exploits and undermines the core business model of their opponents.

Meta is removing ads from law firms attempting to recruit plaintiffs for class-action lawsuits against the company. It justifies this by citing a ToS clause that allows content removal to mitigate adverse legal impacts. This is a powerful example of a platform using its own policies as a defensive legal strategy.

California created a legal workaround to forced arbitration for employees. The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) deputizes an employee to sue their company on behalf of the state. Since the state never signed the arbitration agreement, the case can proceed in court, circumventing the binding clause.

The Federal Arbitration Act was created for disputes between sophisticated merchants of equal bargaining power. Conservative Supreme Court justices, starting in the 1980s, controversially expanded its application to everyday consumer and employee contracts, which was never the law's original intent.