Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » consumer arbitration

National Arbitration Forum Settles with Minnesota’s Attorney General

By Victoria VanBuren - July 20, 2009

To follow up on our post of last week and as reported by the ADR Prof Blog and Professor Ross Runkel’s Law Memo Arbitration Blog, the National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) announced that is settling its lawsuit with Minnesota’s Attorney General and agrees to step aside from the credit card and consumer debt arbitration business. Lory Swanson released this statement today: National Arbitration Forum Barred From Credit Card And

U.S. Congress Hearing on the Misuse of Arbitration to Collect Consumer Debts

By Victoria VanBuren - July 20, 2009

As announced by this press release, the U.S. Subcommittee on Domestic Policy will hold a hearing related to arbitration on July 22, 2009. The hearing is entitled “Arbitration or ‘Arbitrary’: The Misuse of Arbitration to Collect Consumer Debts.” Experts invited to testify include: Michael Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, National Arbitration Forum Richard W. Naimark, Senior Vice-President, International Centre for Dispute Resolution, a division of

AAA Announces Non-Binding ADR Services

By Victoria VanBuren - May 11, 2009

The American Arbitration Association recently introduced Non-Binding Resolution Services (arbitration and mediation) for disputes between businesses & consumers and employers & employees. Technorati Tags: arbitration, ADR, law, mediation, non-binding arbitration, consumer arbitration, employee arbitration

Arbitration Fairness Day: Follow Up

By Victoria VanBuren - April 24, 2009

[Ed. note: see new commentary on the Act here] Following up on my post of yesterday and to continue with our tradition to explore both sides of the issue, we would like to share with you this study on arbitration published by Public Citizen. Related links: Fair Arbitration Now Public Citizen Calls for 12 State to Investigate Insurers’ Use of Questionable Arbitration Firm Thanks to Cindy Schnackel, from Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings

Ninth Circuit Finds Class Action Waiver Unconscionable

By Victoria VanBuren - March 31, 2009

In Chalk v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 06-35909 (9th Cir. Mar. 27, 2009), the issue before the Ninth Circuit is whether a class action waiver in an agreement between T-Mobile and its customers is unconscionable under Oregon law. Steward and Chalk (plaintiffs) bought from T-Mobile a PC card manufactured by Sony. The card enables computers to connect wirelessly to the Internet. By signing the one-year service agreement with T-Mobile, the plaintiffs ac

Arbitration Empirical Studies

By Victoria VanBuren - March 24, 2009

So much has been said lately about the “evils” of arbitration, but so little attention has been given to studies regarding arbitration. In this article, from the Vol. 18, No. 1 of the Alternative Resolutions newsletter, John Allen Chalk, Sr. summarizes recent studies on the subject of arbitration, including studies on arbitration participants, attorney surveys, employment arbitration, and consumer arbitration. The article concludes th

White Paper on Arbitration

By Victoria VanBuren - February 23, 2009

We thought you’d want to check out this paper by John Allen Chalk and Rebecca Eaton from Whitaker, Chalk, Swindle & Sawyer, LLP. The authors do an excellent job at compiling noteworthy cases related to general arbitration, employment, consumer, and class actions arbitration.

Legislature Considering Limitations on Consumer Arbitration

By Rob Hargrove - March 20, 2007

We recently blogged with Rick Freeman about the important distinctions between consumer (“take it or leave it”) arbitration agreements and agreements to arbitrate between sophisticated commercial parties. We’ve just skimmed HB 3091 (link is to .pdf file), which if passed would severely restrict or outlaw the widespread use of arbitration agreements in consumer contracts in Texas. We will, of course, keep our eye on this. However