Posts tagged as:

arbitration

Bank of America Drops Mandatory Arbitration Clause

August 13, 2009

Bank of America just announced that it will no longer require consumers to arbitrate disputes concerning credit cards and other consumer accounts. Great news! The collapse of pre-dispute, mandatory binding arbitration continues. Hopefully other credit grantors will follow suit.
Bank of America ends arbitration of card disputes | Reuters

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Kucinich right on arbitration, wrong on courts

July 30, 2009

Dennis Kucinich and his House Domestic Policy Subcommittee just released a report on arbitration abuse in the National Arbitration Forum (PDF). In the report, the subcommittee stated that “[c]onsumer arbitration lacks the safeguards that have been designed into our judicial system by our Constitution, by state and federal statutes, and by centuries of judicial decisions” [...]

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AAA drops consumer debt arbitrations, too!

July 22, 2009

(Or has it?)
Following on the heels of National Arbitration Forum’s agreement to stop handling consumer debt arbitrations, AAA said they will also bow out “until new guidelines are established” (possibly an allusion to the industry’s call for minimum standards in lieu of banning mandatory, pre-dispute, binding arbitration). Now that the two biggest players in consumer [...]

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National Arbitration Forum awards may be unenforceable

July 21, 2009

The Minnesota Attorney General’s lawsuit against National Arbitration forum alleges that NAF is “in cahoots” with one of the largest debt collection law firms in the United States, Mann Bracken. Mann Bracken, un-coincidentally, is also one of NAF’s best clients.
Arbitration awards are routinely confirmed by state district courts, as they must be under the Federal [...]

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Nat’l Arbitration Forum sued, agrees to stop handling consumer debt cases

July 20, 2009

The Minnesota Attorney General sued National Arbitration Forum (PDF) last week, accusing NAF of colluding with creditors and debt collectors to screw consumers. At a press conference, AG Lori Swanson said “[t]his is a classic case of the little guy getting stepped on by fine-print contracts.”
Four days later, seeing the writing on the wall, NAF [...]

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Link roundup, week of July 5

July 6, 2009

When I get busy, quality links tend to pile up in my Google Reader queue. Here are some great news items I have not gotten around to blogging about:

Researchers can guess your social-security number from public information like your birthdate and birth location | Red Tape Chronicles
Young adults dispute Suze Orman’s claim that young people today “have [...]

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Arbitration reform cannot come soon enough

June 16, 2009

In case you missed it, NPR has a really great story on why we need arbitration reform.
The piece starts out with the story of Jamie Leigh Jones a 20-year-old Halliburton/KBR employee in 2005, who was in Iraq for only four days before she was brutally gang raped by fellow employees. No criminal action was ever [...]

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Forced Arbitration: You Can’t Sue Us For Discrimination

April 30, 2009

Why you should support the Arbitration Fairness Act. Forced Arbitration: You Can’t Sue Us For Discrimination | Consumerist

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Today Is Arbitration Fairness Day!

April 29, 2009

Call your representatives and tell them mandatory binding arbitration sucks! Today Is Arbitration Fairness Day! | Consumer Law & Policy Blog

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Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever

February 10, 2009

This is one of the best-executed blog posts, ever, about arbitration or anything else. Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever | Consumerist

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Minnesota Courts to Stop Handling Debt Collection Lawsuits?

January 15, 2009

Possibly, along with other “low-importance” cases like shoplifting, traffic violations, trespassing, and small claims, if the legislature delivers the 10% cut to court funding that it has suggested it will. Minnesota courts have been short-staffed and under-funded for years, and further cuts could mean that the judicial system starts to shut down some services.
While I [...]

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More on how arbitration screws consumers from Elizabeth Warren

June 11, 2008

More on how arbitration screws consumers from Elizabeth Warren. Have You Already Lost? | TPMCafé

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Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins)

June 7, 2008

“The business of resolving credit-card disputes is booming. But critics say the dominant firm favors creditors that are trying to collect from unsophisticated debtors” Banks vs. Consumers (Guess Who Wins) [BusinessWeek]

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Arbitration news roundup

June 5, 2008

Last week was quite a week for arbitration. Here was all the arbitration news that popped up here on Caveat Emptor:

Mandatory binding arbitration sucks (say 81% of Americans). Taking a look at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce study on mandatory binding arbitration.
National Arbitration Forum thinks courts should just rubber stamp arbitration awards. NAF on getting [...]

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ABC News: National Arbitration Forum is selling justice

May 29, 2008

Maybe the tide is starting to change. ABC News’ Good Morning America show’s piece on what a scam mandatory arbitration is for credit cards is great.
Among its highlights are a women who was harassed and sued for some one else’s debt, and a judge who was black balled for deciding in the consumer’s favor once. [...]

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Consumers in California lose 99% of the time

May 29, 2008

ABC News did a great piece on debt collection, arbitration, and especially the National Arbitration Forum, where consumers in California lose 99% of the time. A former NAF arbitrator says on camera that she was forced to quit for ruling in favor of a consumer one time. Stick around for the great commentary at the [...]

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National Arbitration Forum thinks courts should just rubber stamp arbitration awards

May 29, 2008

National Arbitration Forum basically offers a rubber stamp to debt collectors already, and they argue that courts should turn their awards into court judgments without looking too closely.
Are courts unreasonably tossing out arbitration awards? Nope. NAF is just advocating for its clients, the debt collectors, who have no proof of the debts on which they [...]

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Mandatory binding arbitration sucks (say 81% of Americans)

May 27, 2008

81% of Americans polled in a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce disapproved of mandatory binding arbitration. This is the corporation-friendly, tie-your-hands arbitration that is written into most of the consumer contracts we sign every day for credit cards, cell phones, etc.
So maybe it is time for Congress to get going and [...]

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Credit card arbitration: banks are conspiring against you

May 1, 2008

That the major credit card issuing banks are conspiring against consumers to force them into mandatory arbitration should come as no surprise to anybody. Why wouldn’t they force people into a system so stacked in favor of the credit card companies that the companies win all but 0.16% of the time. (For the math [...]

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce fudges the issue on arbitration

April 6, 2008

We have not mentioned the Arbitration Fairness Act in some time, but the AFA is still pending before Congress, and Big Business is still trying to stop it.
What is the issue? Mandatory binding arbitration. Nobody thinks arbitration is a problem when two parties agree to it. The problem is that many businesses (your credit card [...]

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