Wigginton v. Dell, Inc.

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Rule 23 order filed NO. 5-07-0076
April 25, 2008;
Motion to publish granted IN THE
June 2, 2008.
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
________________________________________________________________________
STEPHEN R. WIGGINTON and WEILMUENSTER ) Appeal from the
& WIGGINTON, P.C., Individually and on Behalf of ) Circuit Court of
Others Similarly Situated, ) St. Clair County.
)
Plaintiffs-Appellees, ))
v. ) No. 03-L-455
)
DELL, INC., f/k/a Dell Computer Corporation, ) Honorable
) Lloyd A. Cueto,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.
________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE CHAPMAN delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff, Stephen R. Wigginton, filed a class action, alleging that the defendant,
Dell, Inc. (Dell), refused to honor rebates that it offered its customers to induce them to
purchase computer equipment from Dell. The defendant filed a motion to compel arbitration.
The court found that a prohibition on class arbitration contained in the defendant's arbitration
clause was unenforceable, and it entered an order striking that prohibition and compelling
arbitration. The defendant appeals, arguing that the arbitration clause in the parties'
agreement is not severable and is enforceable in its entirety. We affirm.
On December 17, 2002, the plaintiff purchased $4,535.67 in computer equipment for
his law firm. He was offered a $500 rebate on the equipment, which could be redeemed after
the purchase. According to the plaintiff, he made several attempts to obtain the forms
necessary to claim the rebates, both by calling Dell and by attempting to download the forms
from Dell's Web site. He alleges that he was not able to obtain the forms for several months.
When he submitted the rebate forms, the claim was rejected on the basis that the eligibility