MoDOT wants day in court on highway lawsuits
The Missouri Department of Transportation wants its day in court when it is sued over injuries or deaths blamed on defects in state roads. The highway agency contends it is paying out millions of dollars more than necessary because of arbitration rulings against it. So the department wants to be able to take its chances before a judge and jury. Legislation considered by a Senate committee this past week would repeal a 1999 law that allows plaintiffs to decide whether to submit their cases to binding arbitration instead of a jury. The bill would require lawsuits to go to arbitration only if the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission agreed to it.

The Arbitration War
Unexpected wireless charges are a chronic affliction of life on the grid. The industry triggers more complaints from consumers than any other. AT&T Mobility, by consumer rankings, is the worst. Its performance in a case the Supreme Court heard recently has done nothing to improve that reputation...The Ninth Circuit said this “artifice” has “the practical effect of rendering” AT&T “immune from individual claims.” AT&T’s arbitration clause is unconscionable. The Supreme Court should say so.

Justices Question Contracts That Block Class Actions
The Supreme Court seemed disinclined to let companies use legal fine print to block class actions, with several justices suggesting they might defer to state courts that ruled in favor of consumers. An AT&T Inc. unit tried to prohibit class actions with arbitration clauses in the contracts it imposes on mobile-phone customers. But courts in California ruled the provision unenforceable..."scheme to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money," a clause prohibiting class actions was unconscionable because it left consumers with no practical remedy

Major U.S. Banks Investigated For Foreclosure Fraud
With well over a million homes being repossessed, 2010 is shaping up to be a record year for foreclosures in the U.S. But there are serious questions about the way many have been carried out, and now prosecutors are investigating whether some of the country's largest banks committed fraud.

Wall Street Plays Dr. Jekyll to Avoid Court
When duped investors set out to make themselves whole after a fleecing by a broker, the American way is to hustle them off to a private court run by Wall Street. It’s a tradition that was set in stone when the Supreme Court in 1987 said that, if an investor signed an agreement to arbitrate, the sorry loser is out of luck if he ever wants a day in court... In spite of the obvious advantage Wall Street gets by having one of its own on dispute panels, there are political reasons that industry types might actually support Finra’s proposal: forces that are threatening mandatory arbitration altogether. The Dodd-Frank Act has the SEC looking into whether arbitration contracts are in the public interest; the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 had raised questions on the issue even before Dodd-Frank passed.

Blind arbitration: A system that ignores reality in setting public worker contracts must change
Just in time for the new school year: the confounding math of binding arbitration, where two plus two equals … whatever an arbitrator says it equals — and taxpayers must make up the difference.  Why are New Jersey taxpayers suffocating? Binding arbitration is Exhibit A. Arbitrators are supposed to weigh taxpayers’ ability to pay, but often don’t. It’s a rigged game, and should be scrapped.

Lowe's Drywall Settlement Called Unfair
It's a common argument against class action lawsuits: aggrieved consumers get little more than token compensation, while the lawyers walk off with all the money. That concern is being raised anew with a recently-proposed settlement involving drywall sold at Lowe's. The suit, filed in Georgia state court, concerns some of the defective Chinese drywall sold by the home improvement chain.The settlement totals $6.5 million, $2.1 million of which would go to the plaintiffs' attorneys. Meanwhile, class members are set to receive gift cards in varying amounts -- $50, $250, or $2,000 -- depending on how much money they can prove that they lost, according to ProPublica. Those who can prove damages greater than $2,000 are also eligible to receive as much as $2,500 in cash.

Arbitration Strikes Again: Used Cars
Perz signed the dealer's arbitration agreement, meaning that despite hiring a lawyer his case would never reach a judge. Despite being advertised as faster than litigation, after three years his case is still in arbitration. Now he's up against an arbitrator whose record against consumers is abysmal.  Related articles: Support The Arbitrattion Fairness Act HR 1020

Widely used arbitration quietly closes doors of protest for consumers
 Most consumer contracts include clauses that require you to take any disputes with the auto dealership, phone company or retailer to an arbitrator — one chosen by the business. You can't take the business to court. You might not even be able to take part in a class action lawsuit with others who have similar complaints. And the arbitrator's decision — with no explanation — is generally final.Consumers often aren't aware of this because the clauses are buried in the fine print of contracts. And even those who know what to look for say it's almost impossible to avoid arbitration mandates when signing up for a product or service.