Guidotti v. Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, L.L.C., No. 12-1170; Third Circuit; opinion by Jordan, U.S.C.J.; filed May 28, 2013. Before Judges Scirica, Jordan and Roth. On appeal from the District of New Jersey, No. 11-cv-1219. [Sat below: Judge Simandle.] DDS No. 03-8-xxxx [34 pp.]
Dawn Guidotti contacted JG Debt Solutions, L.L.C., for help in negotiating a settlement of her debt. She received an email from [email protected], an email domain associated with Legal Helpers Debt Resolution and Eclipse Servicing Inc., which contained a link to various online documents maintained by DocuSign. She claims that included therein were an attorney retainer agreement (ARA) and a Special Purpose Account Application (SPAA) to set up an account to pay the debt negotiations service fees and a negotiated settlement. The SPAA included a provision acknowledging that she had received, read, understood and accepted an account agreement that included an arbitration provision. Although she signed the SPAA and the ARA, Guidotti claims that she did not receive the account agreement until three weeks later.
