In what will surely be seen as a sweeping win for corporations and a a major abrogation of the class-action lawsuit, the Supreme Court ruled today that corporations can force unhappy customers to settle disputes in binding arbitration. The case arose from a class-action litigation brought on behalf of California AT&T Mobility customers who disagreed with a $30 charge on their phone bill. The opinion, written by Antonin Scalia, noted that arbitration is “efficient and less costly” for large corporations. Consumer-rights advocates are understandably displeased, while the shock wave this decision will send through the corpus of civil litigation law will arguably be massive.
Click here for the story from the Los Angeles Times.
