Faced with a class-action suit filed on behalf of customers who claim they were tricked into paying to file their taxes, TurboTax-maker Intuit knocked the case down. The company insisted its customers had agreed to forego their right to take their grievances to court and were required to use the private arbitration system instead.
But even as Intuit was winning in the class-action case, that very arbitration system was being weaponized against the Silicon Valley company.
A Chicago law firm is using a novel legal strategy by bankrolling customers bringing tens of thousands of arbitration claims against Intuit. Win or lose, this strategy could cost Intuit tens of millions of dollars in legal fees alone — a threat that could prod the company to be more open to a giant settlement. - ProPublica
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Corporate exploiter faces arbitration "guerilla war"
A couple of items down on this blog there’s one about forced arbitration. This one, about the same general topic, is considerably more uplifting.
Speaking of arbitration claims, do you remember when Matt Gaetz said "It is my belief that the #1 threat to our liberty is big government. But it is also my belief that the #2 threat to our liberty is big business, when big business is able to use the apparatus of government to wrap around its objectives. In this case, I’m convinced that big business’ over utilization of mandatory arbitration clauses impairs people’s access to something that is fundamentally American. And that is having a judge and jury make a decision regarding your dispute."
ReplyDeleteGaetz said that in 2019 when the House passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act of 2019 ... McConnell did not act on it ... but the House anticipates another vote on the issue in March.
The current bill is H.R. 963, with the shortname of FAIR Act. Based on votes in 2019, expect Emmer, Fischbach and Stauber to vote NO but it will pass with very few Republican votes.