Opinion ID: 2299150
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: emphasis in original).

Text: Because this language does not promise that the written notice of changes will take any particular form, it is not unreasonable to expect that a subsequent, replacement Customer Agreement, bearing a different effective date on its cover page, serves, upon receipt, as written notice sufficient to put the average consumer on notice to examine it for changes. [1] Even a cursory examination of any of the replacement Customer Agreements in this record would have revealed to the average person the particular change that is the gravamen of the present case. A reasonable person, on notice of possible changes, but who may not wish to scrutinize comparatively all of the fine print unless there was some more manifest indicium of change, might look to see if any additional numbered provisions had been added. The initial 28 August 1996 Agreement contained twenty-two numbered sections, with the last, No. 22, entitled MINIMUM LEVEL OF SERVICE. The last numbered provision of each replacement Agreement was No. 23, entitled ARBITRATION, preceded by No. 22, MINIMUM LEVEL OF SERVICE. Thus, had Mattingly exercised the simple expedient of ascertaining the total number of provisions in each Agreement, using the 28 August 1996 Agreement as a base, he would have discovered (if he did not) the very provision he now seeks to avoid so that he may maintain a potential class action lawsuit over the allegedly usurious late fee charge of $2.81. By the even simpler expedient of canceling his subscription for satellite tv service following receipt of any of the pre-dispute replacement Agreements, Mattingly could have vindicated his objection to the unilateral imposition of mandatory arbitration, albeit at the possible loss thereafter of his ability to view The Sopranos or The Shield, [2] unless and until cable television is extended to his neighborhood. In a recent case, Allstate Ins. Co. v. Stinebaugh, 374 Md. 631, 824 A.2d 87 (2003) (No. 81, September Term, 2002) (filed 12 May 2003), the Court, in the context of a dispute over whether an agreement to arbitrate existed, was confronted with the issue of the legal effect of an agreement that contemplates judicial resolution of a particular dispute, upon a prior, general arbitration agreement. Stinebaugh, at 635, 824 A.2d at 89. Noting that no reported Maryland appellate decision addressed the issue ( Stinebaugh, at 646, 824 A.2d at 96), the Court discussed an Oklahoma case, Shawnee Hosp. Auth. v. Dow Constr., 812 P.2d 1351 (Okla.1990), that decided that question in an analogous factual context to Stinebaugh. Favorably citing to the Dow decision, we iterated the following principles of contract law relied on by the Oklahoma court: Before full performance, contractual obligations may be discharged by a subsequent agreement whose effect is to alter, modify, or supersede the terms of the original agreement or to rescind it altogether. A claim under an earlier contract will be governed by a later agreement if the latter operates to supersede to rescind the former. Where not expressly stated, the legal effect of the later contract on the former must be gathered from a four-corners' examination of the contractual instrument in question. Stinebaugh, at 646, 824 A.2d at 96, citing Dow, 812 P.2d at 1353-54 (footnotes omitted). The Court then stated that [W]e have embraced legal tenets similar to those employed by our sister state regarding arbitration and contract law. Arbitration is consensual; a creature of contract. Curtis G. Testerman Co. [ v. Buck ], 340 Md. [569] at 579, 667 A.2d [649] at 654 [(1995)] (quoting Thomas J. Stipanowich, Arbitration and the Multiparty Dispute: The Search for Workable Solutions, 72 IOWA L.REV. 473, 476 (1987) (citation omitted)). As such, [a] party cannot be required to submit any dispute to arbitration that it has not agreed to submit, id. (quoting Gold Coast Mall [ Inc. v. Larmar Corp. ], 298 Md. [96] at 103, 468 A.2d [91] at 95 [(1983)]), and [t]he intention of the parties controls on whether there is an agreement to arbitrate. Crown Oil [ & Wax Co. v. Glen Constr. Co., ], 320 Md. [546] at 558, 578 A.2d [1184] at 1189 [(1990)]. Further, like Oklahoma, we have recognized that rights and obligations under contracts may be discharged by subsequent agreements. See, e.g., [ ] Linz v. Schuck, 106 Md. 220, 234, 67 A. 286, 290 (1907) (stating that modification is an abandonment of the original contract and the creation of a new contract). Stinebaugh, at 648, 824 A.2d at 97 (footnote omitted; some internal citations omitted). Most courts enforce arbitration agreements that were entered into in the manner that the parties entered into the instant agreement. In Bank One, N.A. v. Coates, 125 F.Supp.2d 819 (S.D.Miss.2001), the court enforced an arbitration agreement added by a credit card company to the customer agreement by mailing an amendment to the card holders whose complaints previously had not been subject to arbitration. The court said: Given, then, that the original cardholder agreement permitted amendments, the arbitration provision is not rendered unenforceable simply by virtue of the fact that Bank One undertook to add the arbitration provision via amendment. Consistent with the terms of the original agreement, Bank One could validly amend its agreement to add an arbitration clause, just as it could have amended the agreement to add or change any other term on the agreement. Id. at 831. Respondent essentially argued that the changes were procedurally unconscionable and therefore should not be enforceable. The original agreement permitted unilateral amendment by DIRECTV following written notice to its customers. Consistent with the terms of the original agreement, DIRECTV could add an arbitration provision, unless the manner in which it was added is deemed to be unfair. We do not find DIRECTV's chosen method to be unfair. DIRECTV sent respondent notification of the amendment and specifically gave him the option of rejecting the services if he did not agree to the new terms and conditions, including the arbitration provision. In short, the parties agreed to arbitrate. We are persuaded that the replacement Customer Agreements, received before the dispute arose, were sufficient written notice to Mattingly of DIRECTV's insertion of a mandatory arbitration provision as a proposed modification in the contractual agreement to govern their respective future performance and rights, that it was not onerous to expect Mattingly to have appreciated that that change had been made, and that Mattingly had a reasonable and fair opportunity to cancel the contract if he objected to the arbitration provision. He elected to continue to receive DIRECTV's services, subject to the mandatory arbitration provision, and should not be allowed now to avoid arbitration of the dispute over the late fee. [3] Accordingly, we would reverse the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals and order that court to affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court for St. Mary's County.