The New York Times publishes today a lengthy analysis of the arbitration scam concocted by corporate interests to facilitate and enable them to rip off and harm American families, consumers and employees: Arbitration Everywhere: Stacking the Deck of Justice.
There are two main, basic problems with the arbitration clauses that corporate America relies on:
- First and with all due respect to the arbitrators, the system is structured to favor the repeat players, which is the corporations. Arbitrators get paid when they preside over an arbitration, so they want to be selected to arbitrate a matter. If they don't get picked, they don't get paid. So this leads them inevitably to tilt in the favor of the corporations who will again have an arbitration. It's like buying the jury, and it is not fair.
- Cost. Most arbitration clauses require the consumer and the corporation to share the arbitrator's charges and fees, which are likely to run into quite a hefty sum, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars. Individuals and families rarely have the money to pay for this. You could say that lawyers could represent them on a contingent fee basis; well, in reality, taking a case on a contingent fee basis where the arbitrator is likely to naturally and inherently favor the opposition adds a level of risk that sometimes is too much to bear.
Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com
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