INDEMNIFICATION
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold A+ Leasing and its officers, directors, employees and agents harmless against all claims, losses, expenses, damages and costs (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from or related to your use of or breach of these Terms and Conditions. Your indemnification obligation shall survive the termination of these Terms and Conditions.
JURY TRIAL WAIVER AND ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
Solely for purposes of this Jury Trial Waiver and Arbitration Agreement (the “Arbitration Agreement”), the terms “we,” “us” and “our” mean A+ Leasing LLC, and its officers, directors, employees and agents . These terms also mean any third party providing any product or service to you directly or indirectly, including without limitation any retailer that sells products to us and that we lease to you, as well as any service provider for our website (“Site”) or any party relating to your rental-purchase agreement with us that you bring a claim against at the same time you bring a claim against us.Unless you reject this Arbitration Agreement in the manner specified below, you agree that you or we may elect to have any and all claims or disputes arising from or relating to the Terms and Conditions and Use or Terms and Conditions of Application (collectively, the “Terms”), our Site, your rental-purchase agreement with us (the “Rental-Purchase Agreement”) or other account, product or service provided to you by us, submitted to binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. This includes claims or disputes based on contract, tort, intentional tort, consumer rights, equity, statute, local ordinance, or otherwise. This also includes data breach or privacy claims arising from or relating directly or indirectly to our disclosure of any nonpublic personal information about you. The term “claim” has the broadest reasonable meaning and includes initial claims, counterclaims, cross-claims, third-party claims, and federal, state, local, and administrative claims, and claims which arose before the effective date of this Arbitration Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, disputes regarding the validity, scope, coverage or enforceability of this Arbitration Agreement or any part thereof or the ability to arbitrate any claim shall be determined by a court, not an arbitrator. However, disputes regarding the validity or enforceability of the Terms, your Rental-Purchase Agreement, or other product or service as a whole shall be determined by the arbitrator. Individual small claims court actions are not subject to this Arbitration Agreement as long as they remain in that court; however, if the dispute is transferred, removed or appealed to a different court, the dispute will be subject to arbitration.
You may choose the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) or JAMS to administer the arbitration. If neither of them can serve, a court with jurisdiction will select the arbitrator or administrator. The appropriate AAA or JAMS consumer arbitration rules shall apply, as determined by the arbitrator. These rules are found at www.adr.org and www.jamsadr.com. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between this Arbitration Agreement and the administrator’s rules or other provisions of the Terms or your Rental-Purchase Agreement, this Arbitration Agreement will govern. This Arbitration Agreement shall survive any termination of your access to our Site or the termination or suspension of your Rental-Purchase Agreement, your use of our Site, your account with us, or any bankruptcy by you.
In arbitration a third party arbitrator or administrator solves claims in a hearing. By agreeing to this Arbitration Agreement, you are waiving your rights to: 1) have a jury resolve your claim, 2) have a court, other than small-claims courts, resolve your claim, 3) serve as a private attorney general or in a representative capacity, and 4) be in a class action. The law provided by the FAA governs this Arbitration Agreement, but if a court finds the FAA does not apply, and the filing cannot be appealed, then the laws of the State of Texas shall govern.
Each party to the arbitration shall pay its own costs of arbitration as specified by the relevant rules. If you cannot afford your arbitration costs, you may apply for a waiver under the relevant rules. We will always pay any costs we are required to pay by law or the administrator’s rules or that we must pay in order for this Arbitration Agreement to be enforced. The parties will bear their respective attorney, expert, and witness fees and costs, unless applicable law, this Arbitration Agreement or the administrator’s rules provide otherwise.
The arbitrator shall be empowered to grant whatever substantive relief would be available in a court under applicable law or in equity on an individual claim, including, without limitation, compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages (which will be governed by the constitutional standards applicable in judicial proceedings), declaratory, injunctive, and other equitable relief (but only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim), and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs if allowed by law. The arbitrator shall apply applicable statutes of limitations and privilege rules that would apply in a court proceeding. The arbitration hearing will take place in the federal judicial district where you reside, or at another place mutually agreeable to the parties.
If a claim is arbitrated, the parties waive any right to a jury trial. They also waive any right to bring representative claims in court or in arbitration on behalf of a class of individuals, as a private attorney general or otherwise or to join or consolidate claims (the “class action waiver”).
This Arbitration Agreement may be severed or modified if necessary to render it enforceable, except that: (A) if the class action waiver is declared invalid in a proceeding between you and us, and that determination becomes final after all appeals have been exhausted, this entire Arbitration Agreement (other than this sentence) shall be null and void in such proceeding; and (B) if a claim is brought seeking public injunctive relief and a court determines that the restrictions in the class action waiver or elsewhere in this Arbitration Agreement prohibiting the arbitrator from awarding relief on behalf of third parties are unenforceable with respect to such claim (and that determination becomes final after all appeals have been exhausted), the claim for public injunctive relief will be determined in court and any individual claims seeking monetary relief will be arbitrated. In such a case the parties will request that the court stay the claim for public injunctive relief until the arbitration award pertaining to individual relief has been entered in court.
The arbitrator’s award shall be final and binding on all parties, except for any appeal rights under the FAA, and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. No arbitration award involving the parties will have any preclusive effect as to issues or claims in any dispute involving anyone who is not a party to the arbitration, nor will an arbitration award in prior disputes involving other parties have preclusive effect in an arbitration between the parties to this Arbitration Agreement.
To begin an arbitration process the party may mail a request to arbitrate to the other. The notice should describe the claim and the relief sought. The receiving party must reply within twenty (20) days. The requesting party may choose the arbitrating group.
YOUR RIGHT TO REJECT THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT: You may reject this Arbitration Agreement by emailing a rejection notice to [email protected] within thirty (30) calendar days after the date you first use our Site or the date you sign your Rental-Purchase Agreement, whichever occurs later. Any rejection notice must include your name, address, email address, and telephone number and a statement that you reject the Arbitration Agreement included in the Terms and Conditions of Use or your Rental-Purchase Agreement, or both, whichever is applicable. If you reject this Arbitration Agreement, that will not affect any other part of the Terms or your Rental-Purchase Agreement. Rejecting this Arbitration Agreement will not constitute a rejection of any other arbitration agreement between you and us.
RESOLVING CLAIMS WITHOUT ARBITRATION. It is possible to solve claims without the need for arbitration. A+ Leasing encourages you to reach out to us directly by email ([email protected]) or by phone (888-972-7587) to try and solve your claim. If we do not agree to the claim resolution, we may submit in return a written offer (“Settlement Offer”), which you can choose to accept, or reject and take to arbitration. Either party may start arbitration. No party will disclose settlement proposals to the arbitrator during arbitration.
There may be other options available to you for the settlement of your claim. Either party may go to small-claims court if the small-claims court has the power to hear your claim or our claim. Either party may also use lawful self-help remedies. This includes set-off or repossession and sale of property, including the property you lease from us in a Rental-Purchase Agreement as allowed by the contract and applicable law. Either party may seek remedies which don’t claim money damages, including prejudgment seizure, injunctions, or equitable relief.If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Arbitration Agreement please contact us at:
A+ Leasing
PO Box 79571
Houston, TX 77024
888-972-7587
If the amount in controversy exceeds $1,500, a party may appeal the Arbiter’s finding. Such appeal will be to a 3-Arbiter panel from the same arbitration group. The appeal will be de novo, and solved by majority vote.
Upon request, A+ will pay the fees (including filing, administrative, hearing and Arbiter’s fees) on your behalf if you ask us to do so. You are responsible for your attorney fees and other expenses. If the Arbiter awards you funds, you will not be obligated to reimburse the arbitration fees we paid on your behalf. If the Arbiter does not award you funds, then you may be obligated to repay the arbitration fees. The Arbiter will decide whether you’ll pay. Within fourteen (14) days of the Arbiter’s ruling, a party may request the details of the ruling to be provided in writing.