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RCW 7.04A.040

Effect of agreement to arbitrate—Nonwaivable provisions.

Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Optimer Intern., Inc. v. Rp Bellevue, LLC (2011)

Most recently applied in 2025 OK CIV APP 19 - Greenfield v. Circustrix, LLC (April 2025)

2005 c 433 s 4.

How often courts cite this section

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citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the parties to an agreement to arbitrate or to an arbitration proceeding may waive or vary the requirements of this chapter to the extent permitted by law.

(2) Before a controversy arises that is subject to an agreement to arbitrate, the parties to the agreement may not:

(a) Waive or vary the requirements of RCW 7.04A.050(1), 7.04A.060(1), 7.04A.080, 7.04A.170 (1) or (2), 7.04A.260, or 7.04A.280;

(b) Unreasonably restrict the right under RCW 7.04A.090 to notice of the initiation of an arbitration proceeding;

(c) Unreasonably restrict the right under RCW 7.04A.120 to disclosure of any facts by a neutral arbitrator; or

(d) Waive the right under RCW 7.04A.160 of a party to an agreement to arbitrate to be represented by a lawyer at any proceeding or hearing under this chapter.

(3) The parties to an agreement to arbitrate may not waive or vary the requirements of this section or RCW 7.04A.030 (1)(a) or (2), 7.04A.070, 7.04A.140, 7.04A.180, 7.04A.200 (3) or (4), 7.04A.220, 7.04A.230, 7.04A.240, 7.04A.250 (1) or (2), 7.04A.901, 7.04A.903, section 50, chapter 433, Laws of 2005, or section 51, chapter 433, Laws of 2005.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.