I can’t be the only one who recognizes that making people in foreign countries, like say, Austria in Europe, have to file this is in King County Courts in Seattle seems a little fucking dubious. I say this as a Washington State resident. Because it’s super easy for me to commute to Seattle to sue Valve… but it’s not for everyone else.
I don’t know what, if any, options King County Court offers for people from other countries filing suit to be able to do it remotely. I get the distinct feeling this is a “fuck you, show up on our turf or fuck off.”
Looks like District Court might have remote-access options, but I’m not sure if you’ll still have to retain a local lawyer. It says any state or federal courts, but I’m not sure if District court counts more as a city-level court than state-level.
If you have the money to go in on a lawsuit solo, you have the money to retain a local lawyer and probably travel costs.
Otherwise, you’ll have to get a class action going which in that case, a local lawyer is still retained but the cost is spread out and for class actions only 1 person of the party needs to be present (if at all)
Forced arbitration and picking jurisdictions is illegal in the EU so that clause doesn’t apply to Austria. An Austrian would file in any Austrian court that has jurisdiction for contract/civil matter. Therefore, the section with King County includes:
For All Subscribers Outside the European Union and United Kingdom: […] You and Valve agree that all disputes and claims between you and Valve (including any dispute or claim that arose before the existence of this or any prior agreement) shall be commenced and maintained exclusively in any state or federal court located in King County, Washington, having subject matter jurisdiction.
