Cal. CIV § 1799.208

This is the official text of Cal. CIV § 1799.208, part of California’s Civil Code — covers contracts, property ownership, personal rights, and other general civil obligations between private parties.

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Official statutory text

(a) A seller shall not require a consumer to agree to a provision that would do either of the following:

(1) Require the consumer to arbitrate outside of California a claim arising in California.

(2) Require the consumer to arbitrate a controversy arising in California under the substantive law of a state other than California.

(b) Any provision of a contract that violates subdivision (a) is voidable by the consumer, and if a provision is rendered void at the request of the consumer, the matter shall be adjudicated in California and California law shall govern the dispute.

(c) In addition to injunctive relief and any other remedies available, a court may award a consumer who is enforcing their rights under this section reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in enforcing those rights.

(d) For purposes of this section, adjudication includes litigation and arbitration.

(e) This section applies to a contract entered into, modified, or extended on or after January 1, 2025.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.