Skip to main content

Forced Arbitration

The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2013

The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2013 has been introduced: S. 878 and H.R. 1844.  The bill would invalidate forced pre-dispute binding arbitration that prevents access to the courthouse by consumers, employees and others.

Fair Contracts Submits Comments to the CFPB on the Forced Arbitration Study

Fair Contracts' 2012 Contract Reform Team submitted comments to the Consumer Financial Protect Bureau in response to their request for information regarding the study on "pre-dispute arbitration agreements," which we call "forced arbitration."

Special thanks to Patrick Gleeson of Loyola University Chicago School of Law for all his work on this project. 

Citizen Works also signed on to coalition comments.  See both sets of comments attached here.

 

Contract Reform Team Submits Comments to the CFPB on Student Loans

DePaul University College of Law Student Sarah Moravia Submits Contract Reform Team Comments on Student Loan Provisions to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

How Safe Are Your Savings?

John Wasik, award-winning author of 13 books and personal finance columnist for Reuters, has issued this report with Demos, titled How Safe Are Your Savings? How Complex Derivatives Products Imperil Seniors' Retirement Savings.  Fair Contracts Intern Dylan Hanson and Citizen Works contributed to the background research.

Wasik writes:

Fighting back against forced arbitration in securities agreements.

In this piece, finance writer John Wasik, explains how "wronged investors may still be stuck in a troubled system run by the brokerage industry" but how one investor -- Hollywood's Larry “JR Ewing” Hagman -- fought back, and won.  As Wasik explains: "When you sign any standard brokerage agreement, you are locked into their mandatory binding arbitration. While this may be more efficient and less costly than litigation, it can severely limit your ability to recoup your money."

Bland, Paul - "The Laws of Unconscionability" (3 min., 1 sec.)

An excerpt from the Round Table Discussion on Standard Form Contracts (The Fine Print in Contracts of Adhesion), June 4th, 2010 at the Carnegie Center in Washington, DC.

Paul Bland is a Senior Attorney at Public Justice. www.publicjustice.net

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Arkush, David - "A Regime of Protection" (59 sec.)

An excerpt from the Round Table Discussion on Standard Form Contracts (The Fine Print in Contracts of Adhesion), June 4th, 2010 at the Carnegie Center in Washington, DC.

David Arkush is the Director of Congress Watch. www.citizen.org/congress

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Arkush, David - "We Can't Get The Contracts" (1 min., 5 sec.)

An excerpt from the Round Table Discussion on Standard Form Contracts (The Fine Print in Contracts of Adhesion), June 4th, 2010 at the Carnegie Center in Washington, DC.

David Arkush is the Director of Congress Watch. www.citizen.org/congress

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Arkush, David - "94% of Consumers Lose In Arbitration" (2 min., 33 sec.)

An excerpt from the Round Table Discussion on Standard Form Contracts (The Fine Print in Contracts of Adhesion), June 4th, 2010 at the Carnegie Center in Washington, DC.

David Arkush is the Director of Congress Watch. www.citizen.org/congress

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Consumer, Labor & Civil Rights Groups Support the Arbitration Fairness Act

Read the coalition letter to The Honorable John Conyers Jr., Chairman, and The Honorable Lamar Smith, Ranking Member, of the U.S. House of Represenatives Committee on the Judiciary, dated July 26, 2010, in support of the Aribtration Fairness Act of 2009, H.R. 1020.

Syndicate content