Good Chevrolet Inc. & Michael Nouri v. David Bier, 75733-4

Background

David Bier was hired as a finance manager at Good Chevrolet and, ten days after starting, signed a Dealership Arbitration Agreement dated December 15, 2014.
Seven months later Good Chevrolet terminated Bier and he sued for employment discrimination, wrongful termination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Good Chevrolet moved to compel arbitration under the signed agreement; the trial court denied the motion.
On appeal, the central questions were whether the arbitration agreement was procedurally or substantively unconscionable, and thus unenforceable.
The Court of Appeals reviewed de novo, applying the FAA presumption favoring arbitration and placing the burden on Bier (the party opposing arbitration) to show unconscionability.
The court concluded Bier did not meet his burden on either procedural or substantive unconscionability and reversed, directing the trial court to stay the action and compel arbitration.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Procedural unconscionability — meaningful choice	Bier argued he lacked a meaningful choice because he received the agreement shortly after hire and was told he needed to sign it	Good Chevrolet argued Bier had notice, the arbitration clause was prominent, and there is no evidence he was denied time, counsel, or ability to ask questions	Court: Not procedurally unconscionable — Bier failed to show lack of meaningful choice or undue pressure
Substantive unconscionability — mutuality	Bier argued other language makes the agreement one-sided against employees	Good Chevrolet pointed to clear mutual language applying arbitration to claims of both parties	Court: Agreement is mutual; plain language supports mutual arbitration
Substantive unconscionability — cost sharing and affordability	Bier argued arbitration costs might be prohibitive and make forum inaccessible	Good Chevrolet noted no affidavit or evidence of likely costs and the agreement requires the dealership to bear costs if employee prevails; costs are split if dealership prevails	Court: Plaintiff bore burden and provided no evidence; cost provision not unconscionable
Substantive unconscionability — attorney fees and remedies	Bier argued the contract undermines statutory fee remedies	Good Chevrolet pointed to clause preserving employee remedies and prevailing-party language permitting fees	Court: Provision preserves remedies and prevailing-party fees; not unconscionable
Substantive unconscionability — reference to repealed statute	Bier argued reference to prior RCW and RCW 7.04A exclusion made arbitration invalid for employment disputes	Good Chevrolet argued parties may contractually adopt prior statute and attribution of RCW 7.04A does not bar contractual arbitration	Court: Reference to prior statute does not invalidate agreement; exclusion in RCW 7.04A interpreted as inapplicable to contractual arbitration
Substantive unconscionability — arbitrator discretion/discovery	Bier argued broad arbitrator discretion and limited discovery would impede his ability to pursue claims	Good Chevrolet noted discretion applies to both parties and arbitrator is a neutral retired judge; discovery parallels CR 26 mechanisms	Court: Speculative harm; provision not one-sided or overly harsh; not unconscionable

Key Cases Cited

Adler v. Fred Lind Manor, 153 Wn.2d 331 (2004) (presumption favoring arbitration and framework for unconscionability review)
McKee v. AT&T Corp., 164 Wn.2d 372 (2008) (contract formation timing and unconscionability discussion)
Hill v. Garda CL Nw., Inc., 179 Wn.2d 47 (2013) (cost-sharing and attorney-fee unconscionability analysis)
Zuver v. Airtouch Commc'n, Inc., 153 Wn.2d 293 (2004) (procedural unconscionability factors and meaningful choice)
Romney v. Franciscan Med. Grp., 186 Wn. App. 728 (2015) (adhesion contract factors and procedural-unconscionability framework)
Moses H. Cone Mem'l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1 (1983) (strong federal policy favoring arbitration)