We at Consumerist really hate mandatory binding arbitration, the faux-legal sucker punch that companies deliver when they screw up and you try to sue, and so should you. We’ve talked about its evils a lot, but no one can describe this legal abomination as well as the victims themselves, so this week we’ll let them speak.
mandatory binding arbitration
Mandatory Binding Arbitration Isn't Just Bad For Consumers, It's Bad For Small Businesses
By 2.26.09
Mother Jones has an excellent writeup of Deborah Williams and Richard Welshans, the Maryland couple whose horrific experience with franchising a Coffee Beanery we’ve covered before. Inside, MoJo breaks down the arbitration award to show just how much more expensive arbitration is than litigation.
The Arbitration Fairness Act Is In The House
By 2.13.09
The Arbitration Fairness Act, which will ban binding mandatory arbitration clauses from consumer, employment, and franchise contracts, was reintroduced in the House yesterday.
Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever
By 2.10.09 — Updated: 8.21.13
Mandatory binding arbitration agreements are bad for consumers for so many reasons that, unless you’re the victim of one, it’s hard to keep track of the various ways you can be screwed. So we’ve come up with this helpful illustration: a choose-your-own-adventure-styled trip through the arbitration process.
Powerful People Want To Hear Your Arbitration Horror Stories
By 10.30.08
If you’ve been screwed by arbitration, our consumer and public interest friends in DC would like to hear your story for something special they’re cooking up. Arbitration agreements are clauses inside many contracts between companies and yourself that, in the event of a dispute, prohibit you from suing the company in a court of law. Instead, you have to take your case to a special arbitration firm. Arbitration bills itself as a speedy and fair way to resolve legal disputes, but it’s come under heavy fire recently for being heavily weighted in favor of companies. If you’ve gotten the short end of the stick, send your story to arbitration.stories@gmail.com.
AT&T's Arbitration Clause Strips Consumers Of Their Rights
By 9.3.08
We just love the word unconscionable. You know who doesn’t love it? AT&T. Their mandatory binding arbitration clause was ruled unconscionable by the state Supreme Court of Washington, after AT&T tried to prevent a consumer who believed he was being systematically overcharged from filing a class action lawsuit.
Washington Upholds ATT Customer's Right To Class Action
By 8.29.08
In another step towards the impending demise of mandatory binding arbitration, a customer’s right to file a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Wireless was upheld by Washington Supreme Court yesterday.
Let's Face It: Mandatory Binding Arbitration Sucks
By 7.17.08
A few days ago a “big business” lawyer wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal suggesting that those mean old people in the government were trying to take away your right to arbitration. How dare they!
Mandatory Binding Arbitration Still Sucks
By 6.9.08
BusinessWeek has published a pretty substantial cover story on arbitration, and why it disadvantages consumers. Consumerist readers will be familiar with many of the story’s criticisms: one study finds 99.8% of arbitration cases are decided in the corporation’s favor, some arbitration firms market themselves to companies as a sympathetic and partial judge, the arbitration process is intentionally structured to handicap consumers, and more.
81% Of Americans Hate Mandatory Binding Arbitration
By 5.27.08
According to science, even the President is more popular than mandatory binding arbitration. A recent poll shows that Americans hate everything about the extrajudicial resolution system, from its inescapable omnipresence, to its unappealable decisions that rob consumers of their day in court. The poll provides a refreshing contrast to a different study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which found that Americans love mandatory binding arbitration more than pie.
Arbitration Mill Sued By San Francisco
By 4.7.08
A San Francisco attorney has sued the National Arbitration Forum for being biased towards credit companies and ignoring consumer rights. [More]
Said No To The Doctor's Arbitration Agreement
By 1.25.08
Today I successfully objected to an arbitration clause and was still able to get the service. It was for acupuncture. I was filling out all the blah blah forms and then I came across the arbitration agreement. I wasn’t even planning on this, I just saw it and got really uncomfortable.
Class Actions: T-Mobile's Mandatory Arbitration Clause Ruled "Unconscionable"
By 1.25.08
A class action lawsuit can proceed in Washington after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled T-Mobile’s mandatory binding arbitration clause “unconscionable and unenforceable under Washington state law.”
By 12.16.07
../../../..//2007/12/16/a-critical-look-at-the/
A critical look at the veracity of the claims mentioned in “Mandatory Binding Arbitration Means Alleged Halliburton Rapists Could Go Free” [Overylawyered]
Mandatory Binding Arbitration Means Alleged Halliburton Rapists Could Go Free
By 12.13.07
A woman who filed a civil lawsuit against Halliburton for being the victim of a gang rape by her coworkers in Iraq will have her day in court, kangaroo court, thanks to the mandatory binding arbitration clause in her employment contract. Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged and raped by her fellow workers, then imprisoned inside a shipping container and left without food or water until the US embassy came to rescue after the State Department got calls from her father. She says she was told she would be fired if she sought medical treatment. [More]
Liveblogging The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing On The Arbitration Fairness Act
By 12.12.07
Join us at 9:30 as we liveblog the Arbitration Fairness Act’s second hearing before Congress. Arbitration is an extrajudicial jury-free way to resolve disputes where decisions are handed down by arbitrators who rule against consumers in 98.4% of cases. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution will be considering S. 1782, an Act to banish mandatory binding arbitration from consumer disputes.
Liveblogging The House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing On The Arbitration Fairness Act
By 10.25.07
Consumers may finally escape from the clutches of mandatory binding arbitration if the House Judiciary Committee smiles favorably today upon the Arbitration Fairness Act. Arbitrators rule against consumers in more than 98% of all disputes; the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law is currently meeting to consider H.R. 3010, which would restore consumers’ rights to resolve disputes fairly and openly.
National Arbitration Forum Decides 61 Year Identity Theft Victim Owes $46,000
By 10.15.07
Yahoo! Finance has a horrible story about a 61 year old lady living on $759 a month Social Security whose credit card was stolen and it ended up with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) deciding she owed them $46,000. [More]
