Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Consumer Law Blogs -> ThePopTort

Consumer Law

: ThePopTort

Rent At Your Own Risk

By Joe Consumer

Who knew that rental industries would be the focus of such monumental news this week. 

First, you may have heard about the horrendous 5 to 4 civil rights decision out of the U.S. Supreme Court this week, Rent-a-Center v. Jackson.  Like many employers these days, Rent-a-Center had forced Antonio Jackson to sign an arbitration agreement in order to get a job, forcing him to agree that all disputes would end up in abusive, one-sided and costly arbitration. The court ruled that even though Jackson believed he had suffered racial discrimination and retaliation, not only was he stuck with arbitration but also, it was up to the arbitrators themselves to decide if their own unconscionable system was fair!  What the ?? 

Today, the House Judiciary Committee is taking up a number of important bills, including one to help the families of victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.  (See consumer and environmental group letter here.) But they are also importantly taking up the Arbitration Fairness Act, which would help protect consumers and workers from these terrible anti-consumer, anti-worker mandatory arbitration systems, which the U.S. Supreme Court has once again made even worse.

Speaking of renting things, here?s another thing that needs fixing.  A few years ago, under the prior Administration, an amendment was ?slipped into the 900-page 2005 transportation legislation at the behest of car rental companies, preempt[ing] numerous state vicarious liability laws, effectively immunizing rental car companies for renting cars to uninsured or underinsured drivers who are negligent and who could cause accidents and endanger the public? (to quote from another consumer group letter).  At the time this was done, 15 states had laws that required rental car companies to assume responsibility when their uninsured drivers caused accidents.     

It would be one thing if drivers could trust rental car companies to be looking out for everyone's safety.  But check out the California jury verdict this week against Enterprise Rent-a Car, in a case involving the families of two young women who were killed in their rented PT Cruiser when it burst into flames.  The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports,

The car had been subject to a recall to check for power steering fluid leaks that could cause a fire, but it was not repaired. The recall notice told owners of 435,000 PT Cruisers to contact a dealer for a service appointment, but did not ground the car.

"Given all we have learned, today we would ground the recalled PT Cruiser until repaired," said Greg Stubblefield, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Enterprise, the nation's largest car rental company, which admitted liability.

Talk about an afterthought. 

Full post as published by ThePopTort on June 23, 2010 (boomark / email).