In April of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court held that big corporations can insert language in the fine print of consumer contracts that prohibits consumers from bringing a class action to hold the corporation responsible for its wrongdoings.  We wrote about the dangers of such a holding here, and a good background on the Supreme Court's case, called AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, can be found here. 

Now, some members of congress, recognizing the harm the Concepcion opinion brings for consumers and employees across the country, have introduced a bill seeking to overturn the Supreme Court's radical decision. A good story on the bill and its proponents was recently published on the L.A. Times website. As stated in that article: 

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, you may not have the right to sue a company you think has wronged you.

Instead, if the company prefers, you could have to arbitrate the dispute — a process that consumer advocates say tips the scales of justice in favor of businesses.

That imbalance would be remedied with passage of the Arbitration Fairness Act, a bill under consideration in Congress that would supersede the Supreme Court's ruling and reestablish consumers' right to sue and to join with others in class-action lawsuits.

"These forced arbitration clauses in contracts deny consumers their right to hold companies accountable when something is wrong," said Christine Hines, an attorney with the advocacy group Public Citizen. "They basically let companies off the hook."

The ConsumersLaw team has been fighting for consumer justice and battling unfair forced arbitration for years.

Consumers and employees need class actions and need to be able to take corporations to court to account for their misdeeds.  Contact your representative and ask that he/she support the new Arbitration Fairness Act.