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.

Foreclosure’s building problem
She didn't have a subprime mortgage. But when Jordan Fogal's house became uninhabitable, the 62-year-old grandmother says foreclosure became her best alternative. Fogal's troubles began when she and her 72-year-old husband, Bob, moved to a new housing development near Houston in 2002. That first night in the new house, the dining room ceiling collapsed. Bob had pulled the plug in the Jacuzzi tub upstairs, and 100 gallons of water came crashing through the ceiling downstairs because the plumbing drains were not connected.

Carrie Lavargna: Arbitration has no jury and no appeal
I recently shopped for a new car. The dealer and I agreed upon the model, extras, color and price, and I signed a one-page purchase order. When I arrived to pick up the car with payment in hand, the business manager informed me that I had to consent to resolve any disputes with the dealer through binding arbitration. This automotive equivalent of a pre-nuptial agreement asked that I waive my right to a trial in state court and accept as final the decision of an arbitrator. Being rather peeved that this provision was thrown at me at the last moment and thinking that arbitration is ill suited for consumer transactions, I walked out.  In arbitration, the case is heard by one arbitrator or sometimes a panel of three. Some arbitrators are chosen because they are familiar with particular industries. The person or panel acts as both judge and jury in hearing the dispute. The decision is called an award that is final and binding. There is no appeal. Once you sign a document with a binding arbitration provision, you have no other remedy.

Tell Your Senators and Representative to Cosponsor the Arbitration Fairness Act
With the recent introduction of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 by Senator Russ Feingold and Congressman Hank Johnson, I am asking that all of our members contact Congress urging them to support the bill.  My hope is that you will join me as hundreds of thousands families across this country like  HOBB Rep. Scott Kimbell, of Jefferson, Georgia in the fight to ban Binding Mandatory Arbitration so other Americans are not blindsided by fine print.  Please write to your Senators and Representative and tell them to cosponsor the legislation. Tell Your Senators and Representative to Cosponsor the Arbitration Fairness Act

Building arbitration in limbo
When disputes arise over the quality of home construction in Ohio, consumers often prefer to go to court while builders often prefer to go to arbitration. New judicial rulings now leave open the possibility for both. Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court let stand the ruling of a Cincinnati appeals court that said a Butler County couple's workmanship claims against their builder belonged in arbitration... So-called forced arbitration has become a standard item in the fine print of home purchase contracts. Unless an arbitration clause is "unconscionably" unfair to one party, fights over leaky roofs, cracked basements or defaulted payments go to a mutually chosen arbiter, usually a construction professional, architect or lawyer, some active, some retired.

Support The Arbitration Fairness Act
Companies force consumers to revoke their right to lawsuit by embedding language in terms of use contracts that say in the event of any dispute, both parties have to go to an arbitration firm, which the company pays for... The Christian Science Monitor found that the top 10 most used arbitration firms only found in favor of consumer 1.6% of the time. Is it any wonder they're so popular?