Category Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

CFPB issues proposed rule on forced arbitration clauses that ban class actions

The CFPB has just released its much-awaited proposed rule on forced arbitration clauses — arguably the single biggest step the Bureau can take to level the playing field for American consumers.  If adopted after notice-and-comment, the CFPB's new rule would prohibit forced arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from banding together to hold companies accountable in court, […]

Will Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee Cause the Court to be More Protective of Consumers?

Maybe not, according to this NY Times article. Excerpt: [S]ome argue that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has become perhaps the most business-friendly court in recent history. A 2013 study by Lee Epstein of Washington University in St. Louis, William M. Landes of the University of Chicago Law School and […]

The New Yorker on the Impact of Scalia’s Death on Class Actions and Arbitration

Here. Excerpt: [M]any of the Roberts Court’s most important business cases were decided by a 5–4 margin, with the five conservative Justices voting as a bloc. And, as [Vanderbilt law professor Brian] Fitzpatrick points out, “Scalia has done more than any other justice in making it difficult for consumers and employees to bring class-action suits. […]

DeGirolami on Spokeo Oral Argument

My colleague, Marc DeGirolami, read through the Spokeo oral argument transcript and had the following observations. I thought they might be of interest to readers of the blog.   * Justice Kagan emphasized to counsel for Spokeo that the reporting/dissemination of false information in credit reports is itself plausibly described as a harm. So that […]

Law360’s Evan Weinberger’s Report on Spokeo Argument

Here.  An excerpt: The arguments in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins et al. took the usual pattern of the four liberal justices arguing for a broad interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and standing to bring claims under Article III and the conservative justices appearing to seek to limit companies’ exposure to court proceedings. In the […]

The second part of the New York Times series on forced arbitration

The second installment of the blockbuster New York Times series on forced arbitration is here. The headline is "In Arbitration, a 'Privatization of the Justice System.'" Whereas the first installment was focused on the macro effects — how the Supreme Court's rulings have resulted in a massive suppression of claims by consumers and employees — this […]

New York Times does a deep dive into the rise of forced arbitration

Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times have a must-read story today, the first of several, on the rise of forced arbitration: "Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice." The piece weaves together the history of the silent legal coup achieved by the Chamber and the Roberts Court with stories of the […]