You may have unknowingly waived your constitutional right to a trial by jury when you purchased you new home, used your credit card or made a long-distance phone call. Today, mandatory arbitration agreements are found in almost all consumer contracts, and they are successfully being used by big corporations to block access to courts by consumers who have been treated unfairly. Go to www.texaswatch.org to learn more about arbitration and its pitfalls for consumers.

By Adolfo Pesquera Express-News Business Writer. Consumers also have complaints about the high cost of an arbitration. Arbitration cases where damage claims exceed $75,000 typically cost consumers $6,000 to $20,000 more than trying the same case in court, say spokesmen for Public Citizen and the Association for American Retired Persons.

Link: http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=110&xlc=774590&xld=110

By Adolfo Pesquera Express-News Business Writer. Consumers also have complaints about the high cost of an arbitration. Arbitration cases where damage claims exceed $75,000 typically cost consumers $6,000 to $20,000 more than trying the same case in court, say spokesmen for Public Citizen and the Association for American Retired Persons.

Link: http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=110&xlc=774590&xld=110

By Caroline E. Mayer The Washington Post. Arbitrators can limit an aggrieved individual's access to a company's documents, thus possibly reducing support for the complaint. Arbitrations are decided in private. Decisions are kept confidential, so consumers don't necessarily learn what the arbitrator based a decision on. And many consumer agreements call for the arbitration firm to be chosen by the company being complained about.

By Caroline E. Mayer Washington Post Staff Writer.

As an arbitrator, you're going to get work as long as parties choose to use you, and if this is your career or it makes up a good part of your practice, then if you render a decision that is unpopular" with parties that frequently use arbitration, they "may not choose to use you again."…The homeowner is convinced she won't get a fair hearing.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64365-2002Jul13.html 

 A major developer of this privatized "justice" is David Weekley Homes, both in its own right and through brother Richard Weekleyís Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR). Since 1997, TLR's huge PAC has spent $2.6 million on all three branches of Texas government (see table). "

Link: http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/arbitrationhomes.html

The Assault on Arbitration by Texans for Lawsuit Reform (President Richard Weekley, Texas homebuilder David Weekley's brother) "Another bill, S.B. 1706, would have prohibited the use of pre-dispute binding arbitration agreements in many contracts, such as employment contracts, and would have imposed new restrictions on other arbitrations. The bill, opposed by TLR, failed to pass."

NOTE: S.B. 1706 was specifically for contracts that mandated binding arbitration without disclosing the high cost, and possible abuse, such as the contract used by David Weekley.

Link: http://www.tortreform.com/archives/tlrarbit.pdf

"Seen historically therefore, the Seventh Amendment, the right to trial by jury in civil cases involving more than $20, is a bulwark of political liberty rather than a procedural amendment. Its purpose was to provide the citizen protection against the government. The Founding Fathers included many lawyers who knew this would make the judicial system slower, more inefficient and more cumbersome. They saw this as a small price to pay for protecting freedom from corrupt or tyrannical judges or from powerful or rich persons with unfair influence."

NOTE: Does this mean no media attention? No protesting? No letters to our Senators and State Reps? Or to the Texas Attorney Generals Office? (as if that would do any good.)