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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.
Stand Up For Your Rights
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Over the last year, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued three decisions that expanded companies’ ability to force arbitration on consumers and employees, depriving them of their right to seek redress in court. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 has been introduced to fix this injustice. The bill would allow consumers and employees to decide whether to settle a dispute in court or arbitration. Click here to support the Arbitration Fairness Act. | Sens. Franken, Blumenthal, Rep. Hank Johnson to Hold Press Conference Announcing Legislation to Protect Legal Rights of Consumers
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
[05/16/11]—Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17,
U.S.
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.
WHO: U.S. Sens. Al Franken, Richard Blumenthal; U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson; Deepak Gupta, who argued the AT&T v. Concepcion case before the Supreme Court; Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President for Policy, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
WHAT: Press Conference announcing Arbitration Fairness Act, which would restore consumers’ rights to seek justice in the courts.
WHEN: TOMORROW, Tuesday, May 17th at 11:30 a.m. EST
WHERE:
Russell
Senate
Office
Building
, Room 188
In April, consumers were dealt a blow when the Supreme Court ruled that companies can ban class action suits in contracts. In AT&T v. Concepcion, consumers brought a claim against AT&T for false advertising. However, because the value of their case was only $30, their case was consolidated into a class action. AT&T sought to block the lawsuit by pointing to the mandatory arbitration clause in the service contract but lower courts applying state law rightly invalidated the arbitration clause because it banned class actions entirely.
In its 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court overturned these lower court decisions which sought to protect consumers. The majority of the Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act barred state courts from protecting consumers from these arbitration clauses. The effect of this decision essentially insulates companies from liability when they defraud a large number of customers of a relatively small amount of money.
A longtime advocate for consumers and workers in cases of forced arbitration, in 2009 Sen. Franken passed legislation with bipartisan support that restricts funding to defense contractors who commit employees to mandatory binding arbitration in the case of sexual assault and other civil rights violations. Rep. Johnson, a longtime champion of workers and consumer rights, first introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act in 2007.
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