For over a week something has been sitting in the back of my brain needing to be said and it wasn’t until this morning that I realized what it was. It all comes from the publications that I read awhile ago in a NY Times article on the Koch Industries Rancho Mirage meeting, the Supreme Court decision on AT&T, and another article I read requesting ethics standards for supreme court justices.
For a multitude of reasons, lots of folks don't pay attention to the Supreme Court decisions.
Two weeks ago the Supreme Court heard a case called Concepcion v. AT&T. Basically what happened in this case the Concepcion’s filed a class action lawsuit against AT&T (which by the way is a long standing member and contributor to ALEC).
Vincent and Liza Concepcion sued AT&T for deceptive practices because the company allegedly advertised discounted cell phones but charged sales tax on the full retail price. So the Concepcions sued on behalf of a class of consumers who’d also allegedly overpaid.
They lost when it went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision basically held that the Concepcions could not be part of a class-action suit but instead had to go to arbitration – because of the arbitration clause that was in the contract that they signed..
It was a 5-4 ruling
Justice Stephen Breyer penned a dissent,
joined by
Justice Ruth Bader Ginbsurg,
Justice Sonia Sotomayor and
Justice Elena Kagan.
The majority ruling coming from
Justices Antonin Scalia
Chief Justice John Roberts
Justices Anthony Kennedy,
Justices Clarence Thomas and
Justices Samuel Alito.
Straight split down the conservative and liberal lines.
So What? What does this ruling imply? Why should I be worried?
The high court's decision to prevent people from bringing class-action suits against corporations is further proof that its conservative majority favors businesses over consumers, employees and others suffering injuries.
The Supreme Court's recent 5-4 decision preventing consumers from bringing class-action suits against corporations is part of a disturbing trend of the five most conservative justices closing the courthouse doors to injured individuals. This is nothing other than a conservative majority favoring the interests of businesses over consumers, employees and others suffering injuries.
Brian Fitzpatrick in a widely cited editorial stated
If the court goes down AT&T's path, the consequences could be staggering. It could be the end of class action litigation. In light of Supreme Court decisions in the 1990s that made it difficult to certify personal-injury class actions, virtually all class actions today occur between parties who are in transactional relationships with one another: shareholders and corporations, consumers and merchants, employees and employers. Because they are in transactional relationships, they are able to enter arbitration agreements with class action waivers.
Once given the green light, it is hard to imagine any company would not want its shareholders, consumers and employees to agree to such provisions.
Okay – so what – what does this have to do with the Koch brothers?
A group of more than a hundred law professors from across the country has asked Congress to extend an ethical code of conduct to the Supreme Court - for the first time - and clarify when individual justices should step away from specific legal cases.
Thomas and Scalia have been criticized by a public interest group for attending private political meetings sponsored in January 2007 and 2008 by David and Charles Koch,
The nonprofit group Common Cause has complained that the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision on campaign financing last year - on a narrow majority backed by Thomas and Scalia - opened the door to heightened corporate contributions from the Koch empire.
A New York Times article that reported on the Koch Network invitation to the Rancho Mirage meeting held this past January noted
To encourage new participants [to attend the Rancho Mirage Koch Network Meeting], Mr. Koch offers to waive the $1,500 registration fee. And he notes that previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.
Hmmmmmm........
Is there hope for us?
For us consumers who don't have two hours to read the fine print?
“U.S. Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said today they plan to introduce legislation next week that would restore consumers’ rights to seek justice in the courts. Their bill, called the Arbitration Fairness Act, would eliminate forced arbitration clauses in employment, consumer, and civil rights cases, and would allow consumers and workers to choose arbitration after a dispute occurred.”
Let’s hope that this bill become legislation. Otherwise, the consumer class action, one of the best tools available to consumers seeking to fight corporate wrongdoing, may be a thing of the past.
Maybe - mabe not.
In March 2011, Charles Koch, in a WSJ editorial noted:
For many years, I, my family and our company have contributed to a variety of intellectual and political causes working to solve these problems. Because of our activism, we've been vilified by various groups.
Well – I wouldn’t expect that villification to go away real soon.