Cite as: 531 U. S. 79 (2000)
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
consumer is likely to incur in arbitration.1 Green Tree, drafter of the contract, could have filled the void by specifying, for instance, that arbitration would be governed by the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Under the AAA's Consumer Arbitration Rules, consumers in small-claims arbitration incur no filing fee and pay only $125 of the total fees charged by the arbitrator. All other fees and costs are to be paid by the business party. Brief for American Arbitration Association as Amicus Curiae 15-16. Other national arbitration organizations have developed similar models for fair cost and fee allocation.2 It may be that in this case, as in Gilmer, there is a standard practice on arbitrators' fees and expenses, one that fills the blank space in the arbitration agreement. Counsel for Green Tree offered a hint in that direction. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 26 ("Green Tree does pay [arbitration] costs in a lot of instances . . . ."). But there is no reliable indication in this record that Randolph's claim will be arbitrated under any consumer-protective fee arrangement.
1 In Alabama, as in most States, courts interpret a contract's silence (about arbitration fees and costs) according to "usage or custom." Green Tree Financial Corp. of Ala. v. Wampler, 749 So. 2d 409, 415 (Ala. 1999); see also Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 204, Comment d (1979) (where an essential term is missing, "the court should supply a term which comports with community standards of fairness and policy"). Cf. First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U. S. 938, 944 (1995) (courts should generally apply state contract law principles when deciding whether parties agreed to arbitrate a certain matter); Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U. S. 52, 62-64, and n. 9 (1995) (interpreting arbitration clause according to New York and Illinois law).
2 They include National Arbitration Forum provisions that limit small-claims consumer costs to between $49 and $175 and a National Consumer Disputes Advisory Committee protocol recommending that consumer costs be limited to a reasonable amount. National Arbitration Forum, Code of Procedure, App. C, Fee Schedule (July 1, 2000); National Consumer Disputes Advisory Committee, Consumer Due Process Protocol, Principle 6, Comment (Apr. 17, 1998), http://www.adr.org/education/education/ consumer_protocol.html.
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