Well Street Journal: Jury Favors KBR in Iraq Rape Trial
A jury in federal court on Friday dispatched a high-profile lawsuit against KBR Inc. brought by a former employee, finding she wasn't sexually assaulted by a co-worker while working for the defense contractor in Iraq in 2005.Jamie Leigh Jones, 26 years old, had claimed she was drugged and subsequently raped by former KBR firefighter Charles Bortz just three days after arriving in Baghdad's Green Zone. She further alleged that KBR, a former unit of Halliburton Co., had defrauded her by concealing the risk of sexual assault at its camp in Iraq, and by including a mandatory arbitration clause in her contract for resolving work-related complaints. Her lawyers had sought $145 million in damages from both defendants.

Jury rejects rape claims against KBR employees
In one of his first acts as a U.S. senator, Minnesota Democrat Al Franken championed the cause of Jamie Leigh Jones, a former KBR/Halliburton worker who claimed she had been drugged and gang-raped by colleagues in Baghdad's Green Zone. With the high-profile victim looking on in the Senate chamber in 2009, Franken won passage of a measure in her name ensuring that military contractors couldn't force victims of sexual assault into arbitration, as opposed to suing.Jones got her day in court, and on Friday, a federal jury deciding her civil suit in Houston decided she was not raped, vindicating a company that charged she had exaggerated or made up her story, in part for fame, publicity and a book deal.

Rep. Hank Johnson, Sens. Franken and Blumenthal Introduce Legislation to Protect Legal Rights of Consumers
"Consumers fighting for fundamental rights against giant corporations deserve their day in court," said Sen. Blumenthal. "This new law would protect countless consumers in Connecticut and around the country from powerful companies that take advantage of them. When individuals have legitimate claims against big corporate interests, they have the right to a level playing field. "

Stand Up For Your Rights
Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) will hold a press conference to announce the introduction of legislation that would remedy a recent Supreme Court ruling and restore consumers’ rights to seek justice in the courts. Their bill, called the Arbitration Fairness Act, would eliminate forced arbitration clauses in employment, consumer, and civil rights cases, and would allow consumers and workers to choose arbitration after a dispute occurred.

Senators Al Franken, Richard Blumenthal and Cong.Hank Johnson file the Arbitration Fairness Act 2011

Pre-dispute Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA), also called Forced Arbitration, is an insidious way for employers and companies to evade accountability to clients, employees, and consumers.  It's a practice, which traps people into waiving their rights to sue, participate in a class-action lawsuit, or to appeal an unfair ruling.

Lender Can’t Ban Class Actions and Deny Customers Their Day in Court
“We’re extremely pleased that the Court of Appeal saw through McKenzie’s attempt to use its fine print contract to give it immunity from the state’s consumer protection laws,” said Public Justice Senior Attorney Paul Bland, who argued the appeal.  “The court sent a clear message today that consumers can’t be robbed of their day in court by a sentence buried within an arbitration clause that prohibits class actions in cases where that’s the only way for consumers to obtain any remedy.” 

Legal documentary "Hot Coffee" a provocative brew
Like many excellent documentaries, "Hot Coffee" is more a visual editorial rather than an all-encompassing and comprehensive distillation of a subject matter, in this case, our tort system. Essentially, it will play to standing ovations with the Trial Lawyers Assn., but be deplored by corporations and such entities as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Such is the direct force of its message.

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.