Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Companies forcing their employees and buyers into arbitration to resolve any dispute has become an increasingly big problem for both consumers and employees. It prevents many complaints from ever getting resolved if the arbitration costs more than the complaint, and it prevents plaintiffs from combining many small complaints into one big action against a corporation to justify the costs of pursuing legal action. Arbitration also prevents many individuals from getting a fair hearing when going up against a big corporation hiring an arbitrator who wants to remain on good terms with a client who brings them a lot of business.
One of the most damaging aspects of forced arbitration is that it’s private, which means if someone goes to arbitration over a complaint, even if they win, they are denied from talking about it to anyone else, and there is no process for journalists to report on the case. That means other individuals with similar claims have no way of knowing someone else pursued legal action over the same issue. That, in turn, prevents more claims against the company from ever getting pursued, much less resolved. Continue reading ›