United States District Court Judge Lynwood Smith recently found that an electronic signature on an arbitration agreement was sufficient to compel arbitration of a sexual harassment claim.  Humphrey v. Cheddar’s Casual Cafe, Inc., No. 5:16-CV-00704-CLS, 2016 WL 3483168 (N.D. Ala. Jun. 27, 2016).

There is a strong federal policy favoring arbitration.  Nevertheless, the party requesting arbitration must prove that a binding arbitration agreement exists.  In Humphrey, the plaintiff did not explicitly deny that she completed the on-line arbitration agreement.  Instead, she argued that her employer failed to meet its burden prove that she was the person who actually e-signed the agreement.

Nevertheless, Judge Smith disagreed.  He found that the information surrounding the e-signature was sufficient to establish that the plaintiff e-signed the agreement.  Among other things, she provided the following information contemporaneously with signing the agreement:  (1) her social security number; (2) her first name, middle initial, and last name; (3) her street address; (4) her telephone number; (5) her email address; (6) her date of birth; and (7) her gender.

In summary, Humphrey demonstrates that in this age of on-line commerce, e-signatures are the functional equivalent of the “real thing.”