We granted an interlocutory appeal to decide whether the trial court correctly denied the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration in this action in which ten plaintiffs challenge several consumer finance and other related contracts. We conclude that the trial court correctly refused to compel arbitration, albeit for reasons different from those stated in the trial court’s order. Plaintiff1 Arthur Favors and nine other named plaintiffs collectively “Favors” brought suit against John Ben Stewart, Jr., Stewart Finance Company2 , Stewart Finance Company Holdings, Inc., Preferred Choice Auto Club, Inc. and Stewart & Lawrence Insurance Agency of Georgia, Inc., collectively “Stewart” alleging that the defendants had engaged in fraudulent and illegal practices that form a predatory lending scheme. The plaintiffs alleged that defendants targeted aged and disabled citizens receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits by locating their offices near Social Security offices and by direct consumer advertising soliciting applications for small cash loans.
Plaintiffs alleged that as a prerequisite to obtaining such loans, defendants required plaintiffs to have their benefit checks directly deposited into accounts in a bank chosen by defendants and under defendants’ control. According to plaintiffs, defendants then debited these accounts for loan payments and charged plaintiffs for other withdrawals. In conjunction with the small cash loans, for which defendants charged a high rate of interest, defendants also required plaintiffs to purchase various financial products that were useless to the plaintiffs, such as auto club memberships, “non-recording insurance” to cover the loss of personal property pledged as collateral, and other unnecessary insurance, the fees for which were added into the loans. Defendants also required plaintiffs to execute, either separately or as provisions in other documents, arbitration agreements. In their complaint, plaintiffs specifically sought a declaration that these arbitration provisions were unenforceable.
