Terms & Conditions

10. Dispute Resolution

If you have any questions about your bill or want to dispute any charges, please contact us at Email: getcare@carewhile.com or 310-692-8780, or CareWhile Client Relations, 11400 W Olympic Blvd, Ste 200, Los Angeles, CA, 90064 (mailing address). If this does not resolve your issue, please notify us in writing. Unless otherwise provided by law, you must notify us in writing of any dispute regarding your bill or Charges within 60 days after the date you first receive the disputed bill or Charge. If you don’t, you may not pursue a claim in arbitration or in court. If you accept a credit, refund, or other compensation or benefit to resolve a bill dispute or Charge, you agree that the issue is fully and finally resolved, and CareWhile shall be released from all liability regarding the dispute. Unless otherwise provided by law, you must remit payment on any disputed Charges until the dispute is resolved.

By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you are agreeing to resolve any dispute with us through individual binding arbitration or small claims dispute procedures, and to waive your rights to a jury trial and to participate in any class action suit.

Individualized Dispute Resolution and Arbitration: YOU AND WE EACH AGREE THAT, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BELOW, ALL CLAIMS AND DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND CAREWHILE WILL BE RESOLVED BY INDIVIDUAL BINDING ARBITRATION OR IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT. THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, CLAIMS AND DISPUTES IN ANY WAY RELATED TO OR CONCERNING THE AGREEMENT, OUR PRIVACY NOTICE, PRIVACY OR DATA SECURITY PRACTICES, OUR SERVICES, DEVICES, OR PRODUCTS, AND BILLS OR CHARGES. THERE IS NO JUDGE OR JURY IN ARBITRATION, AND COURT REVIEW OF AN ARBITRATION AWARD IS LIMITED. THE ARBITRATOR MUST FOLLOW THIS AGREEMENT AND RELEVANT SUBSTANTIVE LAW, MUST ENFORCE APPLICABLE STATUTES OF LIMITATION, DEFENSES, AND PRIVILEGES, AND CAN AWARD, ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, THE SAME DAMAGES AND RELIEF AS A COURT (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES).

This includes any claims against other parties relating to Services, Products, or Devices provided or billed to you (e.g. by third-party vendors) whenever you also assert claims against us in the same proceeding.

For all disputes or claims you have, you must first give us an opportunity to resolve your claim by sending a written description of your claim ("Notice of Dispute") to the mailing address provided above. The Notice of Dispute must contain enough information for us to identify your service record and attempt to resolve your claim, including (a) the name of the CareWhile Client on file; (b) billing details (e.g. invoice record); (c) the date of the issue; (d) a written description of the problem, relevant documents and supporting information; and (e) a good faith calculation of the damages you claim to have suffered and a statement of the specific relief you are seeking. You may be represented by an attorney or other person in that process. However, if you choose to do so, you must also submit a signed written authorization with your Notice of Dispute that allows us to discuss your account with your attorney or other representative. Similarly, if we have any dispute with you, we will send a Notice of Dispute to your billing address. You and we each agree to negotiate any claim(s) between us in good faith. You and we each agree that neither of us may commence any arbitration or court proceeding unless you and we are unable to resolve the claim(s) within 60 days after receipt of the Notice of Dispute, provided the party who sent the Notice of Dispute has made a good faith effort to resolve the claim during that time.

If we are unable to resolve any claims within 60 days despite those good faith efforts, then either you or we may start arbitration or small claims court proceedings. To begin arbitration, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your claim to CareWhile Client Relations, 11400 W Olympic Blvd, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA, 90064, and to the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). The arbitration of all disputes will be administered by the AAA under its Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect at the time the arbitration is commenced, except to the extent any of those rules conflict with these Terms and Conditions, in which case these Terms and Conditions will govern. The AAA rules are available at www.adr.org.

If the claims asserted in any request or demand for arbitration could have been brought in small claims court, then either you or we may elect to have the claims heard in small claims court, rather than in arbitration, at any time before the arbitrator is appointed, by notifying the other party of that election in writing. Any dispute about whether a claim qualifies for small claims court will be resolved by that court, not by an arbitrator. In the event of any such dispute, the arbitration proceeding will remain closed unless and until the small claims court issues a decision that the claim should proceed in arbitration.

The arbitration of all disputes will be conducted by a single arbitrator, selected using the following procedure: (a) the AAA will send the parties a list of five candidates; (b) if the parties cannot agree on an arbitrator from that list, each party shall return its list to the AAA within 10 days, striking up to two candidates, and ranking the remaining candidates in order of preference; (c) the AAA shall appoint as arbitrator the candidate with the highest aggregate ranking; and (d) if for any reason the appointment cannot be made according to this procedure, the AAA may exercise its discretion in appointing the arbitrator. All arbitrators appointed pursuant to this process are subject to the disclosure and disqualification procedures set forth in the AAA rules and any applicable state laws or rules.

Payment of all filing, administration, and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA rules. If you initiate an arbitration, you are required to pay AAA’s initial filing fee, but we will reimburse you for the difference between that fee and the fee for filing a complaint in a federal or state court in your county (or parish) of residence, if any, when the arbitration ends. However, if the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought was frivolous, or that your claim was brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)), then we will not reimburse your initial filing fee and may seek an award of our legal fees or costs against you and/or your counsel. These Terms and Conditions authorize the arbitrator to award fees or other sanctions against your counsel. Any facts, evidence, documents, or testimony introduced or produced in an arbitration proceeding may be used only in that proceeding and may not be disclosed, introduced, or used in another arbitration proceeding even if it involves the same or similar claims. We each also agree that the arbitrator will not be bound by rulings in any prior arbitrations not involving the same parties, even if they involved the same or similar claims.

The arbitrator may award on an individual basis any relief that would be available in a court, including injunctive or declaratory relief and attorneys’ fees. If you seek injunctive or declaratory relief, you agree that the arbitrator may award injunctive or declaratory relief in favor of you alone, and only to the extent necessary to resolve your individual claim.

The arbitrator will have the power to rule on their own jurisdiction, including any issues concerning the existence, validity, or scope of either the Agreement or the arbitration clause, and whether any claim is subject to arbitration. Notwithstanding the foregoing, (1) any dispute about whether a claim qualifies for small claims court will be resolved by that court, not by an arbitrator; and (2) a court will have the authority to determine whether the parties have complied with the informal dispute resolution procedures set out in these Terms and Conditions and whether any claim you or we have filed in arbitration or in court is inconsistent with the Class and Mass Action Waiver included in these Terms and Conditions.

Class and Mass Action Waiver. YOU AND WE EACH AGREE THAT ANY PROCEEDINGS, WHETHER IN ARBITRATION OR COURT, WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A CLASS, REPRESENTATIVE, MASS, OR CONSOLIDATED ACTION (THE “CLASS AND MASS ACTION WAIVER”). If more than 1,000 arbitration demands are filed against CareWhile relating to substantially the same business decision or underlying facts by individuals who followed the steps mentioned above, and are represented by the same counsel or coordinated counsel, and if no substantive ruling has been made in an arbitration between you and CareWhile relating to that decision or those facts, then both you and CareWhile have the unilateral right to opt out of this arbitration provision and have your dispute heard in state court in Los Angeles County, California by sending a written notice to the other party.  If any part of this arbitration provision is deemed to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, then the balance of this arbitration provision shall remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with its terms as if the invalid, unenforceable, or illegal provision were not contained herein.

In any action between you and us, if a court or an arbitrator determines that any part of this arbitration provision or Class and Mass Action Waiver is unenforceable with respect to any claim, remedy, or request for relief, then the arbitration provision and Class and Mass Action Waiver will not apply to that claim, remedy, or request for relief. But the arbitration provision and Class and Mass Action Waiver will still apply to all other claims, remedies, and requests for relief that you or we may assert in that or any other action. In any such case, you and we agree that we will arbitrate all claims, remedies, and requests for relief subject to individual arbitration first, and that any remaining unresolved claims, remedies, or requests for relief may be pursued in court only after the arbitrator’s award has been issued. In any such proceeding, the arbitrator’s factual findings will not be entitled to deference by the court.

Jury Trial Waiver. If a claim proceeds in court rather than through arbitration, YOU AND WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL.