forced arbitration

Sen. Al Franken

Congress Set Up For Showdown Over Consumers’ Ability To Sue Corporations

A subject that many Americans don’t even know about — until it’s too late for them to do anything — is now shaping up to be a battleground between lawmakers in both the House and Senate, where two very different sets of legislation will go head to head to determine whether or not companies can strip their customers of their constitutional right to file a lawsuit in court — and their First Amendment right to speak freely. [More]

Uber Driver Claims Company Keeps More Money Than It’s Supposed To

Uber Driver Claims Company Keeps More Money Than It’s Supposed To

When you hail an Uber car, the driver of that vehicle is supposed to get a set percentage of the total fare you pay. However, one driver claims that Uber is breaking its agreement with drivers by basing their cut on an amount that is lower than what the passenger is charged. [More]

Kārlis Dambrāns

Appeals Court Says Samsung Can’t Use In-Box Warranty Booklet To Strip Customers Of Legal Rights

Last week, we used the example of a Stormtrooper Snuggie to show how easy it is for companies to take away customers’ constitutional rights with just a slip of paper placed inside the box. Now a federal appeals court has ruled that Samsung can’t use an in-the-box warranty booklet to derail a class-action lawsuit. [More]

Your New Stormtrooper Snuggie Comes With A Surprise: It Strips You Of Your Right To File A Lawsuit

Your New Stormtrooper Snuggie Comes With A Surprise: It Strips You Of Your Right To File A Lawsuit

Until the other day, Consumerist reader Jeff had completely forgotten about that cute Stormtrooper Snuggie someone gave him for Christmas. When he finally opened the box, there was the Star Wars-themed sleeved blanket, and a slip of paper giving him the bad news: He had, without doing a thing, given up his right to sue the Snuggie’s manufacturer. [More]

House ‘Freedom Caucus’ Asks Trump To Undo 232 Rules On Net Neutrality, Tobacco, Nursing Homes & Ceiling Fans

House ‘Freedom Caucus’ Asks Trump To Undo 232 Rules On Net Neutrality, Tobacco, Nursing Homes & Ceiling Fans

What’s on your wish list this holiday season? For the few dozen members of the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus, the hope to see President-elect Donald Trump undo or revise more than 200 federal rules involving everything from tobacco to food labels to ceiling fans to your constitutional right to bring a lawsuit against your credit card company. [More]

Adam Fagen

Future Looks Dim For Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Under Trump Presidency

On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump made his disdain for the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms clear, leaving many to wonder what a Trump White House would mean for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the financial services regulator created by the 2010 legislation. Now that pieces are beginning to fall into place for the Trump transition plan, the outlook for the CFPB does not appear very bright. [More]

Freaktography

Court: Nursing Homes Can Continue Stripping New Residents Of Their Right To Day In Court

In September, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new rule that would prevent most nursing homes and other long-term care facilities from using forced arbitration to strip new residents of their right to file lawsuits against these companies. The industry soon fired back by doing the very thing it doesn’t want its customers to do: filing a lawsuit. This morning, the judge in the case granted the industry’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing the new rule from being enforced. [More]

Judge: Airbnb Can Force Users’ Racial Discrimination Claims Out Of Courtroom

Judge: Airbnb Can Force Users’ Racial Discrimination Claims Out Of Courtroom

A large — and growing — number of companies use arbitration clauses in their overlong, legalese-stuffed customer agreements to prevent customers from bringing lawsuits and joining together in class actions, but can that arbitration agreement be used to avoid legal liability for possible violations of federal civil rights law? According to one federal judge, yes. [More]

Michael

New Rules Aim To Make It Easier For Students To Seek Financial, Legal Relief From Failed Colleges

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]

Jason Cook

FCC To Propose Rules That Could Restore Consumers’ Right To Sue Phone, Broadband Providers

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]

Nursing Home Industry Files Lawsuit To Keep Preventing Patients From Filing Lawsuits

Nursing Home Industry Files Lawsuit To Keep Preventing Patients From Filing Lawsuits

Last month, the federal government issued new rules for nursing homes, barring most long-term care facilities from using forced arbitration agreements to stop new residents from filing lawsuits against the homes. Now nursing home operators and industry trade groups are challenging that rule by doing the one thing they want to prevent their patients from doing: going to court. [More]

Freaktography

New Rule Will Stop Many Nursing Homes From Stripping Residents Of Their Right To Sue

As we’ve written about previously, some nursing homes and other long-term care facilities use forced arbitration contracts to prevent their residents bringing a legal action against the home in a court of law. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule that will prohibit long-term care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid from forcing residents into arbitration. [More]