Comments on: New consumer arbitration study https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/03/new-consumer-arbitration-study/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:50:59 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ted Frank https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/03/new-consumer-arbitration-study/comment-page-1/#comment-42859 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:50:59 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=9745#comment-42859 As Professor Sarah Cole and I found out when analyzing the underlying data, the Public Citizen report on NAF had remarkable swaths of fiction.

]]> By: On C-SPAN tonight: “Protecting Main Street From Lawsuit Abuse” https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/03/new-consumer-arbitration-study/comment-page-1/#comment-42850 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:41:07 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=9745#comment-42850 […] Today I testified before the Senate Republican Conference about the effect on the economy of excessive litigation. A podcast is available on-line and, for the insomniacs among you, the hearing will be broadcast on C-SPAN tonight at 10:56 PM Eastern and again at 2:09 AM Eastern. Also testifying was Life Without Lawyers author Philip Howard; Crystal Chodes, who lost her job because of the expense of a meritless ADA filing mill suit; Texas doctor David Teuscher; and arbitration expert and University of Kansas law professor Christopher Drahozal. […]

]]> By: William Nuesslein https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/03/new-consumer-arbitration-study/comment-page-1/#comment-42663 Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:19:28 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=9745#comment-42663 If Elisabeth Warren is against arbitration clauses, then they must be pretty good.

]]> By: Max Kennerly https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/03/new-consumer-arbitration-study/comment-page-1/#comment-42520 Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:34:26 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=9745#comment-42520 That’s like comparing a nice bag of fresh apples with salmonella-infected peanuts.

I’ve had good experiences with the AAA. Now open up your credit card agreement and see if they use AAA.

Betcha it says National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) — a whole different bag of beans, one that viciously roots out anyone who rules in favor of consumers. See (and the links it has):

http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/06/elizabeth-warre.html

Moreover, lots of companies (particularly franchisers) reserve the right to choose whoever they want as arbitrator (as opposed to the impartial arbitrators offered by the AAA), which guarantees you’ll lose when you sue them, see my recent post:

http://www.litigationandtrial.com/2009/03/articles/the-law/for-people/the-very-worst-contractual-provision-to-which-you-can-agree/

Arbitration isn’t a right, it’s enabled by statute. Congress should investigate and regulate the arbitration associates and should flat-out ban these “I get to choose the arbitrator” clauses.

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