HOW ARBITRATION STEALS YOUR DAY IN COURT

From Bob Sullivan's "Red Tape Chronicles."

If I told you there was a courtroom in America where consumers lose lawsuits to businesses 94 percent of the time, and there is no chance to appeal, you'd probably never want to go there.
But here's the problem: You don't have a choice, thanks to small print.

While you may have never heard of binding mandatory arbitration, it is part of nearly every significant transaction you engage in now. It's also become a controversial battleground over consumer protection in America, and on Thursday Congress held hearings debating legislation that would largely nullify many arbitration agreements. The hearing came on the heels of a new report that claims to offer a first-ever glimpse into a world that some say has turned Americans’ Constitutional rights on their head.

Story here.

Ed. The really crazy thing is that the banks and other institutions who enforce arbitration clauses when consumers sue them are the same banks and other institutions who are clogging our courts with creditors' collection suits. That ain't right. See my previous blog on 8/31/07, "Debt Collection Suits on The Rise."