Private equity firm Carlyle, apparently trying to do an end-run around the potential for class-action litigation as it prepares to go public, has ignited a debate about whether a company can require shareholders to use binding arbitration rather than class-action lawsuits to settle disputes.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...