While the free credit monitoring service being offered by Equifax to the millions victims of its massive data breach leaves a lot to be desired, the company is remedying one of the more controversial aspects of the program — a condition that stripped consumers of their right to file a lawsuit in court. [More]
arbitration shmarbitration
Federal Appeals Court Is Okay With Uber Taking Away Customers’ Right To Sue
By 8.17.17
Like companies in just about every industry, the ride-hailing app Uber requires users to agree that they will take any disputes to an arbitrator rather than the legal system. And although you may never have noticed this clause, a federal appeals court has now ruled that customers receive “reasonably conspicuous” notice about the arbitration requirement. [More]
New Rules Aim To Make It Easier For Students To Seek Financial, Legal Relief From Failed Colleges
By 10.28.16
In the last few years, multiple for-profit college chains have closed with little or no warning given to their students, while others remain on the brink of closure. And many of the for-profit schools that remain bar wronged students from ever suing the college in a court of law. Today, the Department of Education finalized the massive overhaul of its “Borrower Defense” rules in an effort to make it easier for students to hold colleges financially and legally responsible for their actions. [More]
FCC To Propose Rules That Could Restore Consumers’ Right To Sue Phone, Broadband Providers
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
While the big headline of this morning’s monthly FCC meeting was the release of the Commission’s final rules on broadband privacy, the agency’s leadership also let it be known that it’s planning to take on one of the industry’s most controversial issues: The right of consumers to have their day in court. [More]
Judge Shreds Uber; Says Company Can’t Prove Riders Are Giving Up Right To Sue
By 8.2.16
Uber, like a large and growing number of companies, has a clause in its terms of use that prohibits customers from suing the company or joining together in any sort of class action against the ride-hailing service. However, a federal judge recently scolded Uber over this contractual gamesmanship and deemed this particular clause unenforceable because the company can’t prove that users actually agreed to these terms. [More]
Proposed Rule Stops Colleges From Stripping Students Of Their Right To Sue
By 6.13.16
A recent study found that almost all of the nation’s largest for-profit college chains have enrollment agreements that block students from suing the school and prevent them from joining in class actions against these colleges. Following the 2015 bankruptcy and collapse of mega-chain Corinthian Colleges Inc., the sagging numbers at University of Phoenix, last week’s death knell for Brown Mackie College, and pending investigations and lawsuits against ITT and others, the Department of Education has decided that maybe these schools — which reap billions in federal aid each year — should probably have to be held accountable in a court of law when they screw students over. [More]
210 Law Professors Agree: Banks Should Not Be Able To Sidestep Legal System When They Break The Law
By 5.24.16
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules that would make it more difficult for banks, credit card companies, and other financial services to stripping customers of their constitutional right to file lawsuits against these companies. The 90-day public comment period has finally opened on this rule, and the first one comes from a chorus of 210 law professors who all agree that consumers deserve the right to their day in court. [More]
New Bill Could Stop Cable & Phone Companies From Taking Away Customers’ Right To Sue
By 4.27.16
Five years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with AT&T, ruling that companies could use a couple paragraphs of legalese buried deep in unchangeable user agreements to strip customers of their right to file a lawsuit. An upcoming piece of legislation seeks to restore that right for telecom customers. [More]
You Will No Longer Need To Go To Seattle To Resolve A Starbucks Card Dispute
By 2.26.16
As things stand now, if you have a legal dispute with Starbucks about your Starbucks Card, the coffee company could force you to travel to Seattle to resolve the matter — not in court, but through the shadowy, unfair process of binding arbitration. However, Starbucks is about to adopt new policies to be more flexible about the location, and give you 30 days to opt out of signing your rights away. [More]
Bill Aims To Restore Consumers’ Legal Rights Stripped Away By Supreme Court Rulings
By 2.4.16
In recent years, a narrow majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly sided against consumers’ access to the justice system, concluding that a 90-year-old law gives companies the authority to effectively skirt the legal system by preempting customers’ lawsuits. That’s why some legislators have decided it’s time to change that law. [More]
