Over fierce opposition, U.S. and Pennsylvania courts have repeatedly held that there is a strong public policy favoring the enforcement of extrajudicial contractual binding arbitration provisions, generally involving the sale of goods and services (as statutorily codified).
While arbitration provisions are strictly construed against the drafter and are unenforceable if waived by substantive litigation or by common-law contractual defenses, because arbitrations bear only faint resemblance to judicial court proceedings, are for the most part unappealable and those provisions are traditionally contained in contracts of adhesion, those contentions have generally been held nonpersuasive. So, too, has the constitutional right to trial been likewise held not applicable to the enforcement of an arbitration provision.
