Yesterday, following three years of intense research, empirical studies, and analysis, following dozens of submissions by a wide range of stakeholders including thousands of pages, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau issued its Final Report, mandated by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act, as to the effects of mandatory arbitration/class action waivers. From the CFPB press release: Continue reading “Consumer Finance Protection Bureau issues report on mandatory arbitration and class action waivers”
The Oregon Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum, and 15 other attorneys general have sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asking the federal government to adopt rules that protect consumers from mandatory arbitration clauses in important contracts. Continue reading “Oregon Attorney General and 15 others ask CFPB to ban mandatory arbitration”
Emily Bazelon describes the order in an article in Slate:
The New York Times reported that General Mills, one of the country’s largest food companies, on Saturday night announced in a stunning about-face that it was withdrawing its controversial plans to make consumers give up their right to sue it.
Continue reading “General Mills reverses mandatory arbitration requirement”
There is a new petition at Change.org calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to revoke banks’ license to steal by banning forced arbitration. They already have several thousand signatures, and I hope that YOU WILL ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST.
Continue reading “Sign the petition to ban forced arbitration”
In a significant decision from the West Virginia Supreme Court, it held that the form contract that U-Haul used did not show that the customer had consented to forced arbitration.
The New York Times Editorial Board says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should ban forced arbitrations. They got that right! Here is the editorial.
A California federal district court judge on Thursday rejected the attempt by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to stop two former appraisers from arbitrating wage-and-hour claims on a classwide basis, holding that it wasn’t in the court’s purview to decide whether their agreement authorized class proceedings.
Continue reading “JPMorgan loses attempt to prohibit class arbitrations”
Paul Bland of Public Justice recently provided the following information about a decision under California Law:
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit eliminates consumer injunction protections under California law”
Paul Bland from Public Justice reports on a federal district court case from Nevada where the district judge held that a hidden arbitration clause used by Zappos was unenforceable.
Continue reading “Finally, a Federal District Court rejects an arbitration clause”
In Southern Communications Services, Inc. v. Thomas, No. 11-15584, 2013 WL 3481467 (11th Cir. July 12, 2013) (Tjoflat, J.), cellular telephone customers brought an action in arbitration against their cellular telephone provider for charging early termination fees. After the arbitrator determined that the contract allowed for class arbitration and certified a class, Defendant appealed.
Continue reading “Court upholds class action in arbitration”
The nine-member U.S. Supreme court ruled in favor of American Express on a 5-3 vote, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor recused, in a case by merchants seeking to recover damages for an antitrust violation.
In Oxford Health Plans v Sutter, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an arbitrator has the power to interpret an arbitration clause and unless the agreement states otherwise, the arbitrator can construe the clause to permit class arbitrations.
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) has reversed course on a requirement that customers must waive their right to participate in class action lawsuits against the company.
Click here to read an article on the Public Justice website about a class action case against payday lenders which shows just how devastating the Concepcion case has been in regard to protecting consumer rights.
Arbitration is usually the only method for clients to seek compensation for wrongs committed by their brokers and financial advisors. Mandatory arbitration clauses are included in virtually all account-opening brokerage agreements.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has been known on occasion to buck the judicial trend of sending class actions to arbitration and instead, champion plaintiffs’ rights to class action litigation. In a decision issued on March 21, 2013, in a sex discrimination case against Goldman Sachs, a three-judge appellate panel reversed a lower-court ruling that former Goldman managing director Lisa Parisi may pursue a class action despite the mandatory arbitration clause in her employment contract. The appeals court agreed with just about every argument by Goldman’s lawyers ruling that the bank’s arbitration clause does not preclude Parisi’s statutory rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Continue reading “Second Circuit squelches Title VII exception to mandatory arbitration”
A recent change to Charles Schwab Corp. fine print keeps customers from joining class action lawsuits, and all regulators can do is beg the brokerage not to make the change.
I have noted on this blog that there have been a long string of cases where the Supreme Court has enforced arbitration clauses. Most notable is the AT&T v. Concepcion decision. In the course of doing that, though, the Supreme Court has always said that enforcing arbitration clauses won’t cause any harm, because (the Court has insisted and promised), arbitration is a forum where anyone with a valid legal claim can be heard fairly. The Supreme Court has always said that arbitration is only acceptable where parties can “effectively vindicate their substantive rights.” About eight cases make that statement.
In In re American Express Merchants Litigation, we’ll learn if the Court actually MEANT any of those promises. Continue reading “US Supreme Court to consider fairness of arbitration in In re American Express Merchants Case”
A group of merchants brought an action against this action against American Express alleging anti-competitive conduct in trade, pursuant to the Sherman and Clayton Acts, 15 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. However, the parties had previously agreed to an arbitration clause, which included a waiver of class action claims. Continue reading “US Supreme Court grants certiorari in antitrust suit seeking class certification”