Congress May End Mandatory Arbitration for Consumers

Dan Frith

Contributor

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I cannot express how unfair and biased mandatory arbitration is for American consumers! It seems that every purchase order for a TV, refrigerator, used car, or other product contains language which prevents you (the consumer) from holding the seller/manufacturer responsible for their defective products through our legal system. Instead of filing a lawsuit and having your claim heard by a jury of people from your community. Mandatory arbitration requires that you forego the discovery process which enables you to prove your claim and submit your dispute to an arbitrator (often selected by the seller/manufacturer) for a decision. Mandatory arbitration clauses are even showing up in nursing home admission contracts thereby preventing you from holding the nursing home responsible when they allow your mother or father to become dehydrated, malnourished, and suffer from bed sores. Damn unfair if you ask me!

Well, it appears that Congress may be about ready to help the little guy! The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 is a proposed bill, already supported by over 70 members of Congress, which would prohibit "pre-dispute" binding mandatory arbitration. In other words, if the parties agree to arbitrate after the event which gave rise to the dispute, then they are free to arbitrate their claim. However, you cannot be forced to arbitrate just because you signed an admission agreement to a nursing home or purchased a used car and the contract contained a mandatory arbitration clause hidden in the fine print.

Please write your representative in Congress and ask them to support the Arbitration Fairness Act (H.R. 3010 and S. 1782). Let's win one for the American Consumer!