Just days after the National Arbitration Forum agreed to stop arbitrating consumer credit card disputes, the American Arbitration Association has decided to do the same. This is good, but passage of the Arbitration Fairness Act is still necessary.

Although we're glad to see these companies exit a portion of the privatized justice racket, this only applies to credit card disputes. There are still plenty of opportunities for consumers to be forced into arbitration, including agreements for nursing homes, retirement plans, insurance, cell phones and utility service, employment contracts, and franchise agreements. Arbitration won't be fair until consumers have the right to choose whether to use it after a dispute arises. That's why it's important for Congress to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act.

For more information on forced arbitration, check out our archives, the Fair Arbitration Now coalition (of which we are a member), or if you're really intrigued, tune in at 2 this afternoon for a House subcommittee hearing on the issue, where the Minnesota Attorney General who sued the National Arbitration Forum last week is scheduled to testify.

(Photo: samwilkinson)