On July 10, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule precluding class action waivers in arbitration agreements in many consumer financial services contracts. The much-anticipated final rule comes more than a year after the CFPB issued its proposed rule, which was based on the CFPB’s March 2015 study of consumer arbitration required by Section 1028 of Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB received over 110,000 comments to its proposed rule and, notwithstanding strong opposition from the financial services industry, on July 10, the CFPB issued a final rule that is largely unchanged from the proposed rule.
