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I think the Supreme Court's American Express vs Italian Colors ruling that forces small business owners to accept arbitration (as written in american express's credit card adhesion contract language), rather than having the right to file a class action lawsuit, makes a lot of sense.
I think the Supreme Court's American Express vs Italian Colors ruling that forces small business owners to accept arbitration (as written in american express's credit card adhesion contract language), rather than having the right to file a class action lawsuit, makes a lot of sense.
The internet in many instances has become a place where people complain. People may also gather as groups to complain, but less often do they have viable solutions.
This ruling forces small business owners to be pro active and interactive with other small businesses. Whenever a concrete issue comes up that requires a lawsuit, ONE small business would be chosen for the test case, but many others would have to financially support the lawsuit.
If that ONE small business wins their case, then all the other small business owners would gain standing were they to file a lawsuit on the same grounds. If the supreme court had ruled in favor of Italian Colors, then it would have kept the power with the class action lawsuit attorneys. The supreme court's ruling now makes it an urgent matter that small businesses be organized ahead of time, before they seek out an attorney.
In a time of media induced forced bi-partisanship in which moderates have been ignored and forced to become either a progressive liberal or a neo conservative, this supreme court ruling requires small business owners to find a way to be in contact with each other in an ongoing basis, which could turn out to actually be a good thing.
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I do agree with you, Alessandro, that class action lawsuits are often NOT the best alternative for the parties involved. Often the rewards are so small, when the damage has been so great. Forced arbitration, in most instances, if the contract requires it, or if both parties stipulate to it, is an excellent alternative, usually with much better results.
ReplyDeleteyes, the Chase Bank monthly minimum payment class action lawsuit netted the attorneys 25 million and the class action 75 million, which was not that much when one considers there were a million victims.
DeleteOn top of that, many many many many Chase bank victims were forced to transfer out of the agreement, which caused them to lose anticipated savings, and all of those people were not part of lawsuit.
Also, those who defaulted because the monthly minimum payment increased from 2% to 5% with no opt out option were not part of the lawsuit either.
Yes, Class Actions are most definitely a mixed bag.