Consumer Law

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Class-Action Ban Issue

By Deepak Gupta

by Deepak Gupta

  Back in May 2008, I wrote a blog post that began like this:

A cutting-edge issue in the world of consumer law--and one that this blog has discussed many times before . . . is the extent to which corporations can enforce class-action bans placed in consumer adhesion contracts. Class-action bans are clauses that purport to strip consumers of the right to seek any classwide relief, whether through class-action litigation or classwide arbitration. 

The question matters because class actions are often the only thing stopping companies like cell phone or cable providers from getting away with practices that cheat large numbers of consumers out of small amounts of money. As Judge Posner has put it, "[t]he realistic alternative to a class action is not 17 million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic sues for $30." 

This morning, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, which presents the question whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts rulings that particular class-action bans are unconscionable under generally applicable state contract law.  We are counsel for the respondents, Californians who seek to sue AT&T over violations of state consumer-protection law in connection with the sale of cellular phones.

You can read the briefs, including the cert petition and our brief in opposition, here.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on May 24, 2010 (boomark / email).