Women Forced Out of Their Jobs For Reporting Fraudulent Sub-Prime Home Loans Win Appellate Decision
In recent months, the sub-prime lending market has collapsed, as many borrowers can no longer afford their monthly payments.  Home values have plummeted below the amount owed on loans as interest rates have risen.  As a result, foreclosures have become increasingly frequent.  Six brave women who worked for one of the nation's largest sub-prime home mortgage lenders, Lehman Brothers subsidiary BNC Mortgage Inc., spoke out about fraudulent mortgage lending practices, and were  viciously harassed for their trouble.

Report faults binding mandatory arbitration
Credit card holders stand little chance of winning in mandatory arbitration of disputes with their banks, according to a report released Thursday by national consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. Arbitration firms used by companies such as MasterCard Inc., Visa, Discover Financial Services LLC and American Express Co. ruled against consumers in about 18,000 of 19,000 disputes analyzed in Public Citizen’s study. The group examined data from California because it is the only state that requires arbitration companies to publish the results of cases they hear. However, consumer advocates at Public Citizen and in Maryland are confident the problem is national in scope.

Binding arbitration a loser for consumer
In a review of 34,000 arbitration cases, Public Citizen said that companies initiated nearly all of the cases and used arbitration firms that they know will rarely rule in favor of consumers.The report focused specifically on cases handled in California by Minneapolis-based National Arbitration Forum. California is the only state that requires arbitration companies to publicly disclose details of arbitration cases.

Creditors have upper hand in disputes
What credit squeeze? The Federal Reserve says Americans are charging as much stuff as ever on credit cards. But a report out today from the consumer watchdog Public Citizen says that when we dispute those charges, cardholders lose almost every time. Helen Palmer reports.Listen to this Story

Pennsylvania Moves to Regulate Home Building Arbitration Contracts
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is considering legislation that would set conditions for the enforcement of pre-dispute arbitration agreements in contracts between home builders and customers, and make a failure to comply grounds for a court to void the clause... The bill would make a home construction contract voidable by the consumer if it has any of the following types of clauses, a clause purporting to waive a customer's right to a jury trial, an agreement not to assert any customer claims or defenses arising out of the contract, a provision authorizing a homebuilder to recovery attorney's fees and costs from the customer...

Calif. Supreme Court Qualifies Enforcement of Class Action Waivers
The California Supreme Court has ruled that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are unenforceable if a court determines "that a class arbitration would be a significantly more effective way of vindicating the rights of affected employees than individual arbitration."

Going to Build a House? Better Think About Contractors and Arbitration!
Scott Kimbell is having the experience of a lifetime: His house is falling down! Everyone dreams of building their own house and when those dreams turn to trouble, you would hope there would be an avenue for justice. Hope? Not when the contractor you hire gets you to sign one of those forms that contains a provision requiring all disputes to be resolved by arbitration. Kimbell Website:Our House is Falling Down

Public Citizen Urges Support for the Arbitration Fairness Act
 Joan Claybrook, says they are proud to stand with these outstanding legislators. With mandatory predispute arbitration privatizing our civil justice system, fairness in the marketplace is undermined and consumers are denied any remedy for fraud and deception. The insertion by business entities of arbitration clauses in everyday contracts forces individuals to forgo their right to a court or jury if dangerous products, services, or workplaces harm them. Ms. Claybrook had this to say concerning the pending legislation: Let me be blunt. Privatizing justice benefits big corporate interests like national banks and insurance companies but does not help ordinary people. Corporations have figured out that simply by inserting an arbitration clause in contracts for everyday consumer goods and services or employment, they can usually evade accountability for any harm they cause or laws they break – laws meant to protect consumers and employees from the misuse and abuse of corporate power in the marketplace.

More on the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007
People Over Profits has an email campaign but it also helps to contact your Congressional rep directly. A letter of phone call also works wonders.  How important is this bill? There is no bill pending in Congress that scares Corporate America more than this one. There is no bill pending in Congress that could more help the American people than this one.

Class action waivers hit a wall
the pendulum has begun swinging favorably toward consumers, with courts striking down class action waiver terms as unconscionable and refusing to compel arbitration.  The most recent example came last week in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned the standard class arbitration waiver in a New Cingular Wireless contract as unconscionable under California law and rejected the notion that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts the state law. Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless, No. 06-55964.