In 2019, Congress held hearings on the FAIR Act, a bill that would make it illegal to force employment, consumer, antitrust and civil rights disputes into arbitration. The Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the nation’s chief big business lobby - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - tried to influence that legislative debate with…
By Paul Bland Executive Director It is no accident that many of President-Elect Biden’s first personnel announcements have been key appointments aimed at strengthening the country’s economy. Biden is sending a clear message that important “pocket book issues” will be a central part of his White House agenda. Steering the economy through the COVID pandemic,…
By Lucy Sears Communications Associate With less than two weeks until the new year, it appears that Congress has finally settled on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, following many months of negotiations that were largely attributed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s continued refusal to back down on several proposals seeking to grant temporary…
By Ellen Noble Staff Attorney This past summer an email expressing abhorrent, racist views of a white supremacist group was circulated by a (now former) JAMS arbitrator. While JAMS quickly severed its relationship with the arbitrator, the incident revived calls for arbitration providers to do better in vetting their arbitrators and monitoring their decisions for…
By Stevie Glaberson Staff Attorney Public Justice has long fought against unnecessary secrecy in court. As so many of our cases have shown, court secrecy enables harassment and discrimination and, in some cases, even kills. Nowhere is court secrecy more dangerous than in medical products litigation. When litigants uncover important information about drugs and medical…
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – with an independent director that can’t be fired by the president – as unconstitutional. Public Justice Executive Director Paul Bland had this reaction: “A politically independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is critical for ensuring that the rights of…
“Pedaling a Stationary Bike” by dfmobile is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 As lockdowns and quarantines continue across the country, and Americans look to maintain as much of their usual routine as possible while the COVID pandemic disrupts so many aspects of everyone’s lives, we learned this week of the latest, and perhaps the most expensive, home shopping trend.…
To news that the Trump Administration is preparing to invoke the Defense Production Act for the sole purpose of keeping meatpacking plants open no matter their safety measures, and intends to draft an executive order shielding agribusiness corporations from many lawsuits regarding harm to workers from exposure to COVID-19, Public Justice Food Project Director of…
By Janet Varnell Board Member Paul Bland Executive Director In response to the economic devastation created by the COVID-19 crisis, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) as part of the CARES Act. The PPP provides extremely low-cost loans, which will be forgiven if a qualifying applicant spends the proceeds on payroll and a few…