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January 16, 2017 In 35th Anniversary
Lessons in Equality
School bullying has reached alarming levels in America. Every day, countless students go to school in fear of their safety and in an environment where it is difficult, if not impossible, to learn. Similarly, reports of sexual assault and dating violence have skyrocketed in recent years. On college campuses, and in K-12 schools across the country, too many young people feel mistreated, powerless and forgotten. Public Justice is helping young people fight back and making a difference in their lives and the lives of other students, too.
Public Justice
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The FCC Should Stop Cell Phone Giants from Using Forced Arbitration Clauses as a Get Out of Jail Free Card
Photo via IntelFreePress on Flickr By Brian Hardingham Kazan-Budd Attorney One Federal Communications Commissioner is proposing taking a major step to protect consumers against abusive fine print contracts. We at Public Justice strongly support this proposal. In 2011 and 2013, a pair of U.S. Supreme Court opinions…
Challenging a Federal Court Decision Shutting the Courthouse Door on Consumers, Because Privacy Invasion Supposedly Wasn’t an “Injury”
In a case called Romero v. Department Stores National Bank, for example, a consumer received literally hundreds of robocalls from the banks that issue Macy’s-branded credit cards, despite the fact that she repeatedly told them to stop calling her. The consumer sued the banks for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act—a statute that prohibits unwanted robocalls to cell phones. But the trial court held that the consumer lacked standing to bring her lawsuit.
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Opt Out of Capital Bikeshare’s Forced Arbitration Clause
Image via Zach Copley on Flickr By Dani Zylberberg Thornton Fellow In its most recent update to its “User Agreement,” Capital Bikeshare—the hugely popular bike program in the Washington, D.C. area—has slipped in a forced arbitration clause and class action ban that significantly affects the…
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Seeks to Limit Court Secrecy
The federal government says that court secrecy is preventing it from protecting consumers. To stop that, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued guidance that urges all judges, plaintiffs, defendants, and lawyers, as well as parties wishing to submit amicus briefs, to ensure that every protective and secrecy order and agreement “specifically allows for disclosure” to the “CPSC and other government public health and safety agencies.”
Trump’s EPA Nominee Is One of America’s Most Anti-Environment Politicans
By Paul Bland Executive Director This post originally appeared on DailyKos, and is republished here with permission. Following his claim that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese, and his promises to “bring back coal,” many have wondered how President-elect Trump might approach…
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If Uber Wants to Take Away Its Customers’ Rights, It Should Tell Them
By Paul Bland Executive Director It’s bad enough that a ton of corporations require their customers and employees to submit all their legal claims to private arbitration, a secretive system that is rigged against the individual. But to compound the unfairness, a growing number of…
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Donald Trump: Not COOL
After running and winning in large part based on his pledge to “be an aggressive proponent for defending the economic interests of American workers and farmers on the world stage,” Donald Trump has taken one of his first concrete steps on agriculture policy. It is an early gift to multinational corporations at the expense of United States farmers.
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Appellate Court Confirms: You Can’t Send Disputes Against a Predatory Lender to an Arbitrator Who Doesn’t Exist
By Leah Nicholls Staff Attorney Today, in Parnell v. CashCall, Inc., the Eleventh Circuit federal court of appeals affirmed what should be obvious: An arbitration agreement that purports to require that the arbitration be conducted by an arbitrator who does not exist can’t be enforced,…
Will Workers’ Class Actions Survive or Be Gone?
While everyone waits to see how the election changes the Supreme Court, one thing is clear: workers’ rights hang in the balance. The Court is soon going to have to decide whether employers can use mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts to ban—and eliminate—workers’ collective and class actions.