As far as I can tell, the actual point of arbitration is more to dodge the extensive discovery and subpoena powers of actual courts. If you're suing Amazon in small claims court, if you can convince the judge that Jeff Bezos' testimony meets the legal bar, you can compel him to testify in court. Or you can compel Amazon to turn over broad swathes of potentially damaging information. You can even force third parties to come in and testify, if it should be relevant.
In arbitration, you do not have a judge, so there isn't subpoena power, and discovery is extremely curtailed.
That would make sense if it's the case, but in that case, is it really worth it for Amazon to give up that protection for the tens of millions of dollars at stake here? I would've thought they'd still prefer to pay that.
In arbitration, you do not have a judge, so there isn't subpoena power, and discovery is extremely curtailed.