Posts Tagged ‘mandatory binding arbitration’

“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]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I learned a curious fact in the course of an arbitration proceeding with the National Arbitration Forum. Once either party obtains a stay of the arbitration, the opposing party has 15 days to file an objection. After that 15 days is up, apparently only the party that requested the stay can lift it.
In other words, [...]

Mother Jones has a great piece on trying to buy a car without an mandatory arbitration clause. It can’t be done from a dealer, which means no new cars.
Try the same thing with cell phones. I asked at Sprint, they said no. (I couldn’t shop around as my wife’s employer will basically only support a [...]

According to Consumerist, Comcast is now making it easy for customers to opt out of mandatory binding arbitration. This is great news, and a consumer-friendly move from Comcast, which lately is best known for throttling its customers’ bandwidth.
I am a Comcast customer (somewhat by necessity), and completed the online form in roughly five seconds. Click [...]

I called HSBC Bank this evening because I wanted to see a copy of their credit card agreement. I said I was interested in applying for a credit card, but I would like to see a copy of the credit card agreement before I applied. They told me I could not have a copy of [...]

Last Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held its second hearing on H.R. 3010 (PDF link), Rep. Hank Johnson’s Arbitration Fairness Act. A number of consumer blogs have posted reactions. Rather rehash them all, here are links to some of the best content:

Paul Bland at CL&P Blog gives a fairly [...]

National Arbitration Forum recently posted a news item from Twin Cities Business Magazine to its blog in which several lawyers made glowing recommendations of arbitration. Readers should make a careful distinction between elective arbitration–where two parties decide to arbitrate rather than litigate a dispute–and mandatory arbitration, where one or both parties has no choice but [...]