81% Of Americans Hate Mandatory Binding Arbitration
According to science, even the President is more popular than mandatory binding arbitration. A recent poll shows that Americans hate everything about the extrajudicial resolution system, from its inescapable omnipresence, to its unappealable decisions that rob consumers of their day in court. The poll provides a refreshing contrast to a different study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which found that Americans love mandatory binding arbitration more than pie. Public Citizen Reports: New Poll - Americans say "No Thanks" To Binding Arbitration

New Poll: Americans Say "No Thanks" To Binding Arbitration
By five to three, Americans said they disapprove rather than approve of consumer contracts with binding arbitration provisions. When consumers who are initially supportive learn that arbitration means that they give up their right to take the case to court and that the company picks the arbitrator, two in three of the initially supportive consumers also disapprove. When the data is combined, a whopping 81percent of Americans express disapproval of mandatory binding arbitration.

ATTENTION! Arbitration Stories
HOBB is in need of Binding Arbitration Stories.  A report on Arbitration is currently being prepared and we need to hear about your experience.  Even if you decided not to go to arbitration for any reason or have sent your arbitration experience before please send it again, with any updates and additional comments.

Meet Big Business' Favorite Granny
US Chamber of Commerce Granny: Her winnings? A whopping $281, plus the arbitrator's fee. Kruse concludes that without arbitration, "The normal person just wouldn't be able to do that. Consumer Avocate's Texas grandmother Jordan Fogal testified before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law about the new house she and her husband purchased in 2002 for $360,000...home needed $150,000 worth of repairs...The arbitrator came from the American Arbitration Association, a private group preselected by the builder. As a private justice system, AAA charged Fogal for every last piece of paper, meeting, and subpoena generated in arbitration, not to mention the arbitrator's time, which ran as much as $475 an hour... In 2006, the arbitrator awarded the Fogals a mere $40,000, even after finding that the builder had engaged in fraud. Adding insult to injury, she then ordered the Fogals to pay the builder $14,000 for some of its legal fees for the trouble they caused the builder.

Texas Supreme Court Bails Out Bob Perry
 Alex Winslow, Executive Director of Texas Watch, released the following statement: “After years of forcing consumers into a lopsided binding arbitration process, the Court today carved out a special decision for the man who gives the Court more campaign cash than any other individual in the state...“This decision is little more than a bail out for a major political moneyman, and is the latest in a long line of pro-defendant rulings by our state’s highest court.”

U.S. Chamber shields corporations, rigs legal system at consumers' expense
"U.S. Chamber and its corporate financers are lobbying to keep abusive, binding mandatory arbitration clauses as the status quo.  Just ask Jamie Leigh Jones what she thinks of the status quo. "Jamie was raped, drugged, beaten, and then confined to a shipping container by KBR/Halliburton employees while working in Iraq.  Because of a clause placed in her employment contract, KBR is trying to force Jamie to submit to a binding, secret, non-appealable arbitration.  These are the types of corporations U.S. Chamber is trying to protect.

NASAA Calls on FINRA, SEC to Improve the Integrity of Securities Arbitration System by Removing Mandatory Industry Representative from Arbitration Panels
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today called upon the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to take immediate action to improve the fairness of the system of securities arbitration, beginning with the removal of the mandatory industry representative from arbitration panels used to resolve securities disputes involving customers and industry.

Despite arbitrator's ruling woman still fighting contractor
Patricia Dicorte alleges that contractor David Landrieu was supposed to fix flooding damage to her Lakeview home. Instead, she says he has caused more damage and that she is out about $89,000... Lisa Mitchell of the Better Business Bureau said the arbitrator found in favor of Dicorte. “To the tune of, I believe, $219,000.”...The case went to Judge Yada Magee, the colleague of another cousin of David Landrieu's, Judge Madeline Landrieu. Judge Magee threw out the arbitrator's decision... Dicorte said it's just like every other avenue she has pursued as she tries to resolve her complaints against David Landrieu. “Everything just disappears,” she complained. “I have to think because his last name is Landrieu.”

Binding Arbitration is a Circus - A Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
A chance to win tickets for you and four of your friends to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, playing at Madison Square Garden this Spring could end in Binding Arbitration.

Home Buyers Warranty Corporation (HBW) Scam
After HBW accepted homes for enrollment in the warranty program, HBW issued warranty booklets to the homeowners. The HBW warranty booklet provided, "Any and all claims, disputes and controversies by or between the Homeowner, the Builder, the Warranty Insurer and/or HBW, or any combination of the foregoing, arising from or related to this Warranty, to the subject Home, to any defect in or to the subject Home or the real property on which the subject Home is situated, or the sale of the subject Home by the Builder, including without limitation, any claim of breach of contract, negligent or intentional misrepresentation or nondisclosure in the inducement, execution or performance of any contract, including this arbitration agreement, and breach of any alleged duty of good faith and fair dealing, shall be submitted to arbitration.  Read more...