"Give Me Back My Right Campaign!" develops proposed
Model State Arbitration Legislation &
What's in your new home purchase contract?
Fair Homebuyer Contract Model

Bad Binding Arbitration Experience? 
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Beware of All Binding Arbitration Clauses!
 All buyers of homes with FHA & VA insured loans 
Buyers can refuse Binding Arbitration if they have an FHA or VA loan or buy a KB Home.
Dec 7, 2001 HUD on binding arbitration: "the Department precludes binding arbitration as the sole remedy." Page 1   Page 2           
          
     
No Mandatory Binding Arbitration Allowed
OCT. 31, 2004: Fannie May & Freddie Mac no longer accept residential mortgage loans that contain mandatory arbitration clauses. Read more... Plus: Freddie Mac Press Release

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List of Home Builders that Require Mandatory Binding Arbitration as a condition to purchasing a New Home 
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Arbitration Justice  It stripped you of your rights and locks you into what many consider a one-sided decision that benefits everyone but you. The consumer has basically waived their constitutional right to sue, as an individual or with a class action suit, when he or she signs a mandatory binding arbitration clause as part of a contract. Consumer advocates point out many people do not know they have denied themselves that right.  

Featured Reports
Public Citizen Report - Arbitration More Expensive Than Court – So Costly That Many Victims of Consumer Fraud, Employment Discrimination Give Up
Read the executive summary of the report, click here.

Public Citizen Report - CAS Arbitration Investigated
Public Citizens calls for investigation of HBW and CAS 
Public Citizen describes how CAS is co-owned by a former lawyer who was disbarred for stealing client funds and operates in apparent violation of 12 states’ laws... The letters also request investigations of the Home Buyers Warranty (HBW) companies, which insure many homebuilders and have designated CAS as the sole legal forum available to tens of thousands of Americans who buy new homes each year.

Public Citizen Report - The Arbitration Trap 
How Credit Card Companies Ensmare consumers 
Stunning results that disfavor consumers: In the more than 19,000 cases in which an NAF-appointed arbitrator was involved, 94 percent of decisions were for business... Biased decision-makers: Arbitrators have a strong financial incentive to rule in favor of the companies that file cases against cunsumers because they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year conducting arbitrations...Top arbitrators can charge up to $10,000 per day and some make $1 million a year. In camparison, California Superior Court judges earn $171,648.

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Arbitration is the privatization of the Judicial System
The deck is stacked against homebuyers
The danger is that an arbitrator has the power of a Supreme Court Justice since arbitration decisions are final and can not be appealed.  For the past 12 years this consumer abusive system has been exploited by the homebuilding industry to avoid all warranty responsibility for defectively built homes.  Read more... 

American Arbitration Association (AAA) & The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Joint Venture 
Binding Arbitration Background: In 1994 the National Assoc. of Home Builder (NAHB) and the American Arbitration Association (AAA) entered into a joint venture to write arbitration rules and builders put arbitration clauses in their contracts.  For the past 12 years NAHB’s members continued to supply AAA with excessively expensive binding arbitration business while homebuilders consistently receive favorable binding arbitration decisions from AAA.  Recently the building industry’s attempted to bully the Houston Better Business Bureau from offering affordable or even a free dispute resolution process that might hold builders accountable.  The object of the industry is to make arbitration too expensive for the consumer. Houston Chronicle: Homeowners losing one option to resolve issues

American Arbitration Association Adoption of Rules - April 1, 1996

NAHB distributed a recommended builder contract to all of its members that contained a binding arbitration clause which stated, all disputes arising out of the contract shall be submitted to "American Arbitration Association (AAA) and shall be governed by the provisions of the AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules.  

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Binding Arbitration & Worthless Builder Home Warranty - New Jersey Superior Court Judge Finds New Jersey's Home Owner Warranty Program "A Useless Piece of Paper" - "I'm well aware of the RWC program, the homeowner warranty program, and the election of remedies. It is set up with the specific goal in mind that there is declining coverage for the benefit of the homeowner, it declines. This is a program, even though it is distinguished by the Legislature, as a homeowner warranty, it is basically a safety net for the builder, as opposed to the homeowner.”

          American Arbitration Association Fee Schedule 
               Amount of Claim               Initial Filing Fee         Case Service Fee
                    Above $0 to $10,000                               $750                                       $ 200   
                    Above $10,000 to $75,000                      $950                                       $ 300  
                    Above $75,000 to $150,000                 $1,800                                       $750
                    Above $150,000 to $300,000         $2,750                                      $1,250
                    Above $300,000 to $500,000         $4,250                                      $1,750
                    Above $500,000 to $1,000,000            $6,000                       $2,500
                    Above $1,000,000 to $5,000,000         $8,000                                      $3,250
                    Above $7,000,000 to $10,000,000   $10,000                                      $4,000

                            Fast Track Binding Arbitration  
                          One Day of Fast Track for a $10,001 claim 
                               950.00 - Initial Filing Fee
                            2,000.00 - Arbitrator
                            1,000.00 - Stenographer
                            1,600.00 - Consumer Attorney 8 hrs. at $200.00 per hour
                          $5,550.00 - Total
                  Does not include expert witness cost or $250 per day for a hearing room
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                       Know What You Give Up
          Homebuyers are unknowingly agreeing to give up rights
            provided by both the State and Federal Constitutions  

·                Denies the constitutional right to a trial by jury and rules of law. 

·                The costs of arbitration are excessively high.  

·                Homebuilders require mandatory binding arbitration as a condition to the sale of a new home to resolve all construction related disputes. 

·                Binding Arbitration clauses in builders’ take-it-or-leave-it contracts creates an unfair bargaining position for the consumer.  

·                Creates an Un-level Playing Field. The Building Industry wrote the AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules adopted in 1996, which provides inherent advantages for the industry.

·                Repeat arbitration business from the building industry has created an environment of bias by arbitrators.  

·               There are no public records of arbitration claims filed or arbitrator’s final decisions.

·                The arbitrator has no obligation to base his or her decision on state law, the decision is  final, and is non-appealable    

Michigan - Arbitration forced on consumers
Critics say new rule favors contractors; builders contend it will make  complaint process more efficient 
A new law, signed by Gov. John Engler on July 31, makes it mandatory for consumers to go to arbitration if the builder seeks negotiations and provides a third party to conduct them. Previously, the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services handled all consumer complaints by holding formal hearings. Read more... 

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Lobby Watch
"Leaky Weekleys"
Moldy 'Lemon' Homes Denied Day In Court
Weekley Boys Privatize the 'Justice' System    
 Homeowners from across Texas rally at the State Capitol to testify at Hearings
Hearing Audio Available 

David Weekley Homres - Supreme Court case forcing Binding Arbitration