Suppose a consumer signs contract of adhesion with corporation. Corporation represents that the contract will be available online at any time. Consumer doesn't make a copy, based on that representation.
Several years pass. Contract is not available online. Consumer, not in possession of the contract, proceeds to arbitration over a dispute, assuming arbitration is forced. Shortly before the hearing, after consumer has spent significant time and money, corporation discloses the contract -- no mandatory arbitration provision exists.
Is the corporation liable for the consumer's wasted time?
EDIT:
From @ohwilleke's answer:
In practice, this fact pattern is unlikely, because the consumer needs the relevant details from the contract to commence arbitration.
Rule R-12 of the AAA Consumer Rules, which is oftentimes expressly incorporated into consumer contracts, requires that the business register arbitration agreements in a public registry.
Say a large corporation has many different contracts containing arbitration clauses with materially different terms (e.g. choice-of-law), or perhaps no clause at all, and has registered those clauses in a misleading way, or failed to register some of them over time -- a consumer could easily file for arbitration with the wrong clause.
Concrete example: Some businesses have a pre-purchase contract and multiple post-purchase contracts (e.g. a clickwrap paperless billing contract). Those contracts are oftentimes not updated in lock-step, leading to conflicting terms.
