Mandatory Binding Arbitration

Ever read the tiny print at the end of your credit card agreement? Did you notice the clause that "all disputes with the issuing credit card company had to be settled via mandatory binding arbitration" meaning that you couldn't take the credit card company to court? Did you ever wonder if that might be fair to you, the consumer? Did you think that a private arbitration firmed paid for by the credit card company might rule solely based on the merits of your case? Psst - 1, it's not, 2, they don't, they rule in favor of them what brung 'em as the arbitration companies depend on repeat business which they will only get from the companies, not the consumers. Better yet, the arbitration companies are only accountable to companies & not the public as you, the consumer, signed away your right to sue when you signed up! Slick, 'eh?

Via Credit Slips this AM I stumbled onto to Senate Judiciary Committee testimony from a Professor Elizabeth Bartholet of Harvard Law School on July 23, 2008 about this very issue. It seems Professor Bartholet was for a brief time herself an arbiter for the National Arbitration Forum, her service ending when she dared to rule against a credit card company. Her testimony is here and excerpted from that link are what I think to be two important point she makes:

"My own experience over the past two decades as an arbitrator has led me to conclude that in many instances corporate players are in fact benefitting from a system of purchased justice in both the employment and the consumer credit areas. My experience as an arbitrator for the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) is but one example, although it may be the most telling."

"All this, together with my other experience as an arbitrator, and my reading of the literature, is what has led me to conclude that the Supreme Court’s approval of pre-dispute arbitration has led to a private justice system in which banks and credit card companies are able to purchase the results they want, at the expense of the debtors forced into the system."

I read the news quite closely but didn't find this anywhere else for some reason. Sure found lots of garbage WRT to Brittany Spears, et al., though. Do ya' think that might be the point? "We the people' are the mushrooms of this land?