Why don’t companies just say “you can’t sue us” in their TOS?
In: Other
I’m not a lawyer, so apologies if I don’t have all of the details completely right:
There is a whole field of law called “Contract Law”. Contract law has rules around what contracts are valid and which are invalid. Contract Law varies depending on where you live but generally, Contract Law dictates that a contract that says, “You can’t sue me” is not valid.
There are various aspects of Contract Law that would make a “You can’t sue me” clause invalid but the most direct ones are a combination of Exculpatory Clause rules and Public Policy rules. Basically, Exculpatory Clause rules say you can only waive so much responsibility. Public Policy rules states a contract cannot violate the broader laws of the land (For example, you can’t sign a contract forcing someone to do something illegal.) Completely waiving the right to sue violates the general legal principles of right to pursue legal remedies and thus violates the Public Policy rule of Contract Law.
Contract Law in some places allows for forced arbitration (a third party chooses the remedy) in a contract and in some jurisdictions this is a legal replacement for some types of lawsuits.
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