Stories of Americans Hurt by Forced Arbitration
Forced arbitration clauses – which are buried in the fine print of credit card terms, employee handbooks, health insurance plans, nursing home admissions forms and many other contracts – eliminate consumers’ and employees’ access to the courts and require that they submit their disputes to a private legal system that favors corporations. Forced arbitration clauses enable big business to undermine consumer protections, circumvent civil rights laws, bypass product safety and escape accountability for wrongdoing.  Read victims stories about individuals and small businesses that suffered severe hardship due to forced arbitration.
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Jamie Leigh Jones Feature of Arbitration Fairness Day Press Conference
Washington DC - Good afternoon. I am standing before you to share with you a personal tragedy. I do this to bring awareness to legislation which is designed to ensure that no American will be deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed right to the fair administration of justice before a jury of their peers and judge, skilled in the law...When my lawyers filed suit, they were met with Halliburton’s response that ALL of my claims were to be decided in arbitration – because I had signed away my right to a jury trial at the age of 20, and without the advice of counsel, or any choice other than to be terminated. Thomas Jefferson said that “no man is above the law and no man below it, nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it.” Here, with the misuse of arbitration, we have made corporate entities in this country – ABOVE THE LAW. See Related ABC Story - Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR (ABC News)
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Appeal heard in rape case against Halliburton, KBR
A judge ruled last year that some of Jamie Leigh Jones' claims against Halliburton Co. and several former subsidiaries can be tried in open court, but the companies say she signed an agreement that requires all of her claims against the companies to be resolved privately through arbitration...The Associated Press usually does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Jones' face and name have been broadcast in media reports and on her own Web site. She also described her allegations in testimony before a congressional subcommittee.

Consumer Protection Measure Introduced In Senate
Sen Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would prevent companies from forcing consumers and employees into arbitration agreements. Arbitration clauses pop up in contracts for things as small as cell phones and as big as jobs. At a press conference on the Hill, victims of tragedies made worse by forced arbitration shared their stories. One of them, Jamie Leigh Jones, provided a statement saying she was gang-raped by her Halliburton subsidiary co-workers in Baghdad in 2005..."Unfortunately, my case is not an isolated incident," Jones said.

Celebrate Arbitration Fairness Day On April 29, 2009
Forced arbitration is another example of how corporations are taking advantage of Americans. As a private system without an impartial judge or a jury, mandatory arbitration allows companies like AIG to play by their own rules and escape accountability when they harm consumers and employees.

Arbitration Fairness Day - Participate, Contact Congress
Arbitration Fairness Day takes place on April 29th.  Sign up Now! It's time to end forced arbitration. Companies must stop taking advantage of Americans and must be held accountable. Forced arbitration allows companies to play by their own rules and escape accountability when they harm consumers and employees. Participate: Sign petition, write you Representatives, tell your arbitration story, sign petition and invite your friends to join.

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
Surprising reaction from  Chairman Todd Hunter and Representative David Leibowitz toward those who spoke in opposition to the bill actually had difficulty trying to explain how “Federal law can override a (Texas) State Constitution.”   Chairman Hunter,  began taking serious exception with the Federal Arbitration Act and Preemption issues, and made it clear he wants a Texas Bill to limit binding arbitration clauses.  Clearly the proponents of arbitration made a case for the need to regulate abusive Mandatory Binding Arbitration clauses and to “get Washington out of Texans lives.” ...Representative Dan Gattis made a magnificent summation regarding his belief in the Civil Justus System and his concern for the secrecy of Binding Arbitration.Arbitration Bill HB 2696 - 04/15/09 1:33 p.m. - 9:01 p.m.  Advance video to 5:43 to begin HB2696 testimony Click to View Hearing...

American Arbitration Association Data Revealed
The report (using AAA data) showed that consumers win some award about 50 percent of the time and receive about 50 percent of what they ask for; businesses win 80 percent of the time and get more than 90 percent of what they ask for.  Statistics based on consumer to business cases. Home construction defect cases were not analyzed separately.  Read more... http://www.searlearbitration.org/p/full_report.pdf

LETTER: Law will help elders, families
Wisconsinites owe a debt of gratitude to Sen. Herb Kohl for introducing groundbreaking legislation that will now protect our elders. The bipartisan Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2009 will prevent nursing homes from deliberately hiding clauses within the fine print of contracts to force seniors and their families to surrender their right to trial by jury and enter into an unfair and one-sided mandatory binding arbitration process.

Franchise Fraud: Wake Up and Smell the Fine Print
By 2004, Welshans had invested $90,000 from his nest egg, plus a Small Business Administration loan of nearly $300,000, to lease and renovate a promising space in an Annapolis office park. But the couple soon began to sense they'd made a huge mistake. On opening day, Welshans had to secure an additional $40,000 home equity loan to keep the business afloat... (Arbitrator) ordered the couple to pay $187,452 in legal fees and arbitration expenses—not including their own legal tab or the cost of travel to and from Michigan. Among the charges: $16,800 for Barron's services, $35,571 for a court reporter and transcription, even $504 for the Beanery lawyers' lunches. For Coffee Beanery, the victory served as the proverbial head on a stake: Its lawyers sent a copy of the award to Garner, the aggrieved Chicago franchisee, who abandoned his own arbitration claim soon after. (Congress is considering a ban on arbitration clauses in franchise contracts, but the franchisors are fighting back. The International Franchise Association, of which Coffee Beanery is a member, has spent more than $2 million lobbying in DC since 2005.)