Readers of this blog have already heard a lot about AT&T v. Concepcion -- the upcoming case in which the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts state-law rulings that class-action bans are unconscionable. 

Paul Bland of Public Justice and colleagues Claire Prestel and Melanie Hirsch examine the possible impact of ATT Mobility v. Concepcion, a forced arbitration case that the Supreme Court will hear in the fall. The Court will decide whether to grant companies free reign to ban class actions in the fine print of their contracts with consumers and employees.

The Baltimore Sun's personal finance writer Eileen Ambrose yesterday provided an apt synopsis of forced arbitration and the need to change the status quo. The article described the all-too-common practice of businesses inserting forced arbitration clauses in the fine print of consumer contracts, which eliminate consumers' ability to go to court and force them to settle disputes in a corporate-controlled, biased forum.

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a major report on debt collection and the forced arbitration of consumer collection disputes. Concluding that "the system for resolving consumer debt collection disputes is broken," the FTC recommends a series of sweeping reforms. The new report, Repairing A Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration, reflects information gathered at roundtable discussions following a February 2009 report on the same subjects. The vote to issue today's report was 5-0.