General Mills Dips A Toe In Forced Arbitration For Sweepstakes, Contests

Last week, The New York Times reported that General Mills added language to its website notifying its customers that if they downloaded a coupon, joined the company's online community on places like Facebook, or entered a sweepstakes or contest sponsored by General Mills, they would give up their right to sue the company.

If these General Mills customers have a dispute with the company, they will be forced to use informal negotiation through the Internet or go through arbitration in accordance with General Mills' rules. According to the article, General Mills also appeared to be taking the position that all buyers of their products will also be required to use binding arbitration.