Arbitration Fairness Act

A Huffington Post piece by Public Citizen's David Arkush examines the anti-consumer forced arbitration clause and class action ban, this time as used by coffee giant Starbucks.

If you're one of millions of Starbucks customers who might buy or receive a prepaid card this holiday season, you might want to take a moment to send Starbucks a message: Don't take away my rights!

Arbitration Kickback: Supreme Court's Anti-Consumer Rulings Trigger Democratic Bills

The National Employment Lawyers Association issued a press release for the Oct. 13 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Arbitration Fairness Act.

In a time when corporations are running roughshod over ordinary Americans while spending millions to lobby Congress and fund political campaigns, consumers need more protections, not fewer.

Yesterday, the US Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing "Arbitration: Is It Fair When Forced?" The Fair Arbitration NOW coalition sent a letter to the Committee in strong support of the Arbitration Fairness Act.

Today Public Citizen released a report documenting unfair wireless industry practices and a number of ways that the industry escapes accountability for those practices.

Alliance for Justice released a report exposing repeated and aggressive efforts by the conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court to radically rewrite the laws governing arbitration in order to shield corporations from liability.

Jamie Leigh Jones is a former employee of defense contractor KBR, who, following an incident in Baghdad, Iraq, sued her employer alleging negligence, assault and battery arising from a gang-rape, negligent hiring, retention and supervision and false imprisonment. However, Jones' employment contract included a clause requiring employment-related claims into arbitration, which would deny the use of a public judge, jury or right to appeal.

When Captain Matthew Wolf of the US Army Reserves was called up for active military service from his New Jersey home, he decided to exercise a benefit Congress created for military men and women under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

Forced arbitration affects almost all consumers of goods and services and millions of employees who sign contracts where the fine print eliminates their right to seek justice in court. Yet forced arbitration remains an issue largely unknown to the public. That may change soon.