Gimme
SAY NO!! TO FORCED CONSUMER ARBITRATION
That clause in about three-quarters of sales and financing agreements should be a red flag to you. It can be trouble for you and is for almost everyone who comes into this office after a ripoff (That’s when a dude in a suit gets to decide how much a supervisor’s constant hands all over you at work or what the misconduct that cost you your car, trade-in, down payment and credit reputation is worth instead of a jury of your peers).
It is evil and the concept is conceptually and fatally flawed. Arbitration firms are selected by businesses from which you contract to buy or finance goods and services, for which you are employed and others. Arbitrators pay money (like school) to learn how to arbitrate cases so how they can be selected by the firms and paid to arbitrate for the firms the businesses select. So, if an arbitrator wants to be known as “good” then what pocketbook issue is always lurking in the background? The National Arbitration Forum, a popular choice, was recently forced out of its lucrative consumer arbitration business in no small part because the government proved that over 85% of the awards were against consumers.
Congress is addressing the issue again this year in HR 1020. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 is still in committee at this writing. It has almost 100 congressional sponsors and will make compulsory arbitration clauses in consumer, employment and nursing home contracts void. The US chamber of Commerce and big business are throwing dollars at defeating the bill. It would be a real pity if all the great support this matter has generated got its votes traded away for other concerns. This is the year to take away the screwdriver.
