Consumer Law

Congress Considers Prohibiting Certain Types of Mandatory Arbitration

By M. Stan Herring

We have discussed in some detail the problems with mandatory arbitration for Alabama consumers. Paul Bland of Public Justice alerted us to an article in the L.A. Times that we had missed dealing with movement in Congress to protect consumers from having to deal with mandatory arbitration.

Here are some excerpts of this well written and balanced article:

Critics of the provisions say they deny consumers and employees a basic American principle: the right to go to court.

"People from all walks of life -- employees, investors, homeowners, those enrolled in HMOs, credit card holders and other consumers -- often find themselves strong-armed into mandatory arbitration agreements," said Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), who is sponsoring one of the measures aimed at making arbitration voluntary rather than mandatory.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on January 13, 2008 (boomark / email).