The Alliance for Justice wrote a report in 2011 about the way that Supreme Court rulings have allowed big business to abuse forced arbitration contracts, and build up privatized legal systems that take away chances of American consumers to be heard by an impartial judge and jury.  The courts have made it nearly impossible to avoid being forced into arbitration.

The report lists some of the worst forced arbitration problems, such as:

• The Repeat Player Bias: Arbitration firms have incentive to keep corporate clients happy
• Prohibitive Costs:  Arbitration firms charger higher fees than state or federal court.
• Hidden Evidence: Public courts use a system of pre-trial discovery where parties request of exchange of evidence.  Arbitration firms are free to fashion whatever rules they want and can choose what rules will govern a dispute.
• Secret Proceedings: Unlike open courts, most arbitration firms treat disputes as confidential, no transcription required.
• No Review: Federal law gives courts very narrow grounds to reverse or modify the decision of an arbitrator.

It also goes into detail about the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions such as Rent-a-Center West v. Jackson and AT&T Mobility v. Conception. To read the report, please click here.

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