# Why is Ebay's abritration agreement governed by Utah law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799 "2012-09-15T16:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/1 "2012-09-15T16:55:01Z")
Ebay is headquartered in California. So obviously there must be some great benefit to Utah’s governance of arbitration. What is the benefit? I make the assumption it’s very much pro-business in that state, assuming my assumption is true, what are some of the specifics that make Utah so friendly in this regard? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/2 "2012-09-15T19:51:59Z")
Ebay also has a large office and a bunch of employees in Utah. It may be that this office handles their arbitration. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/3 "2012-09-15T20:08:19Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > Ebay also has a large office and a bunch of employees in Utah. It may be that this office handles their arbitration. Apparently the eBay office in Utah mentioned in the new EULA (2778 West Shady Bend Lane, Lehi, Utah) is a residential house, you can check it out on Google Maps, and is used by other companies in their EULAs. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/4 "2012-09-18T21:06:59Z")
Friendly bump. I’m curious, too, and didn’t find anything googling this. ---
**Author:** ![ClevelandProud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@ClevelandProud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClevelandProud)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/5 "2012-09-19T03:59:18Z")
Maybe for a similar reason why: • many corporations have their legal home in the great state of Delaware - and - • many credit card companies have their legal home in the great state of South Dakota … - Why U.S. corporations love Delaware HOBSON: So according to the State of Delaware’s website there are more than 850,000 business entities that have their legal home in Delaware, including more than half of all publicly traded U.S. companies. What’s that all about? ELSON: Originally, most companies were incorporated in the State of New York. And around 1880, 1890, New York law changed and made it less hospitable for large companies to be there and they moved across the river to New Jersey. And New Jersey law changed. Delaware was the next state over and all that Delaware had was a law that simply was the old New York law, but they didn’t change it. > **[Why U.S. corporations love Delaware - Marketplace](https://www.marketplace.org/2011/01/24/why-us-corporations-love-delaware/)** > > According to the State of Delaware's website there are more than 850,000 business entities that have their legal home in Delaware. Jeremy Hobson speaks with Charles Elson, head of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of... ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/6 "2012-09-19T13:43:55Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Apparently the eBay office in Utah mentioned in the new EULA (2778 West Shady Bend Lane, Lehi, Utah) is a residential house, you can check it out on Google Maps, and is used by other companies in their EULAs. That may be, but they also have a [big office building](http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705389528/EBay-expanding-its-Utah-operations.html?pg=all) in Draper (in the south end of the Salt Lake valley) employing about 1400 people in customer service and other business roles, and they have a major data center in South Jordan (another Salt Lake suburb). ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/7 "2012-09-20T03:17:53Z")
> [@ClevelandProud](#): > > Maybe for a similar reason why: > > • many corporations have their legal home in the great state of Delaware > > - and - > > • many credit card companies have their legal home in the great state of South Dakota … > > - > > Why U.S. corporations love Delaware > > HOBSON: So according to the State of Delaware’s website there are more than 850,000 business entities that have their legal home in Delaware, including more than half of all publicly traded U.S. companies. What’s that all about? > > ELSON: Originally, most companies were incorporated in the State of New York. And around 1880, 1890, New York law changed and made it less hospitable for large companies to be there and they moved across the river to New Jersey. And New Jersey law changed. Delaware was the next state over and all that Delaware had was a law that simply was the old New York law, but they didn’t change it. > > [Marketplace - Business News & Economic Stories for Everyone](http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/why-us-corporations-love-delaware) Consequently, many of the courts and judges in Delaware have a comparably more significant understanding of the nuances of corporate law since they deal with a lot of cases centered around those issues. Somewhat coincidentally, they don’t have a state whistleblower law as a lot of states do. Though their protected classes for employment discrimination are broader than the federal statutes. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/8 "2012-09-20T04:00:59Z")
Rather curious about this myself. I suspect there is some particular nuance of Utah law that is driving their choice of law clauses. I went to a CLE today regarding Hotel Management Agreements that touched briefly on hotel operators’ successful (but as of yet largely untested in the courts) efforts to get certain provisions written into Maryland law–the result being that many such agreements choose MD law. Delaware is a thing of its own, with both a) an experienced and knowledgeable judiciary and b) a powerful corporate lobby that will do its best to ensure that the laws are amended annually to deal with any unfavorable decisions. Utah? I dunno, man. Have we no solicitors from the great state of the Salt Lake? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ebays-abritration-agreement-governed-by-utah-law/634799/9 "2012-09-21T19:52:13Z")
I’m not aware of what the specific law(s) would be, but I guarantee Utah’s is/are the most favorable to EBay. I believe Delaware does not have some of the blue sky laws other states have. > **[The company state;: Ralph Nader's study group report on DuPont in Delaware,:...](https://www.amazon.com/company-state-Naders-report-Delaware/dp/0670233579)** > > The company state;: Ralph Nader's study group report on DuPont in Delaware, \[PHELAN, James and Pozen, Robert\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The company state;: Ralph Nader's study group report on DuPont in Delaware And it was my understanding some years ago that South Dakota invited banks (credit card companies) into their state by easing usury laws. [http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Articles/Credit-Card-Gift-Card-and-E-payments/Federal/south-dakota-a-favorite-state-for-credit-card.html](http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Articles/Credit-Card-Gift-Card-and-E-payments/Federal/south-dakota-a-favorite-state-for-credit-card.html) [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/eight/](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/eight/)