"Why The Roberts Court’s Anti-Consumer Decisions Are Even Worse Than They Seemed" Thanks in part to several recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts, most consumers are bound to contractual terms that severely restrict avenues for holding corporations accountable. Arbitration clauses, for example, force consumers to enter the private conflict resolution proceedings as an alternative to filing a lawsuit in court. Many arbitration clauses also prohibit “class action” cases, meaning each individual wanting to challenge the same practice must file his or her own separate case even when doing so would be prohibitively expensive. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a new study out that tells us why these clauses are even worse: Consumers almost never use arbitration. Out of tens of millions of people subject to arbitration clauses in agreements for credit cards, loans, checking accounts, and other financial transactions, only 900 people used arbitration between 2010 and 2012. During that same period, and even with so many contracts prohibiting court challenges, consumers filed more than 3,000 federal court cases on credit card disputes alone, including more than 400 class action lawsuits, each involving potentially millions of consumers, according to CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “One... |
Class actions have been a major vehicle to creating safer workplace in the past. It is imperative that the people have their day in court to maintain a democratically balanced system of government. Today's post article is shared from businessweek.com.
He’s worried about business drying up. As a result of hostile Supreme Court rulings over the last several years, scores of mass consumer and employment suits that would have been viable a decade ago have been dismissed, says Bland, a senior attorney with Public Justice, a nonprofit in Washington. “People bring me cases against cable companies or big employers, and I say, ‘Forget it. It’s impossible. Not even worth trying.’ ” The mass lawsuit—in which hundreds or even thousands of plaintiffs join together to go after a corporate defendant—is in deep trouble. Growing judicial skepticism toward such suits and toward the lucrative settlements they generate has caused plaintiffs’ attorneys to shy away from accepting lengthy, complicated cases. That’s tilting the legal playing field decisively in favor of Big Business—and as the Supreme Court reconvened on Oct. 7 for its 2013-14 term, trial lawyers are bracing for more setbacks. Not everyone is shedding tears. Walter Olson, a legal expert at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, attributes the decline of mass lawsuits to a predictable—and... |
The post is shared from probulica.org. Betty Dukes talks to the press on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after the class action lawsuit Dukes v. Wal-Mart was argued before the court in Washington, March 29, 2011
Employers rejoiced. Others predicted serious setbacks for women and minorities, especially in employment discrimination cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That landmark law had opened the way to the use of the class-action lawsuit as a potent weapon for people who could not stand up for their rights on their own. Two years later, it’s becoming clear just how much the ruling has reshaped the American legal landscape. The Dukes decision has already been cited more than 1,200 times in rulings by federal and state courts, a figure seen by experts as remarkable. Jury verdicts have been overturned, settlements thrown out, and class actions rejected or decertified, in many instances undoing years of litigation. The rulings have come in every part of the country, in lawsuits involving all types of companies,... |
"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant's demand for payment of her MSP reimbursement claims, under threat of collection actions before there has been a resolution of an appeal regarding the amount of the Defendant's MSP claim or a waiver request, exceeds her authority under the Medicare statute, and Defendant is enjoined from demanding payment of a MSP reimbursement claim with threats of commencing collection actions before there is a resolution of an appeal or waiver request.
"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendant's demand that attorneys withhold liability proceeds from clients pending payment of amounts claimed by the Defendant as MSP reimbursement exceeds her authority under the Medicare statute, and Defendant is enjoined from demanding that attorneys withhold liability proceeds from their clients pending payment of disputed MSP reimbursement claims.In reaching its decision to allow discovery, the Court held that the putative class, that is challenging the recovery methods of Medicare, is permitted to extend discovery beyond the limited administrative record action without the necessity of the exhaustion of administrative remedies since constitutional and due process were collateral to any individual claim.
Class Action certification is being sought in a claim against AIG brought by NCCI Holdings Inc., Liberty Mutual and Travelers Insurance for underreporting of workers ' compensation premiums. See AIG tries to block workers comp competitors' class action.
