Wells Fargo has asked a Federal District Court to order dozens of customers who are suing the bank over the opening of unauthorized accounts to resolve their disputes in private arbitrations instead of court. The motion, filed on Wednesday, is in response to the class action lawsuit filed against Wells for having opened of up to 2 million unauthorized deposit and credit-card accounts for customers.

In a written response to questions from lawmakers, published last week, the bank said it would stand by its arbitration policy but is offering free mediation services to affected customers. Mandatory arbitration rules inserted into account-opening agreements prohibit customers from joining class actions or suing Wells Fargo. Instead, the agreements require individual, closed-door arbitration.

While mandating arbitration when signing up for financial products has become standard since a 2011 Supreme Court decision, critics say that customers who try to recover small sums of money are unlikely to find lawyers to represent them in arbitration, and the cases do not set a legal precedent to help other affected individuals.

Last year, a court dismissed an earlier lawsuit against Wells Fargo, saying that customers had signed arbitration clauses when opening their accounts.