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Arbitration Study Results Released

Some time ago I wrote an article about alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and how many corporations put mandatory arbitration in their contracts. One of their arguments for doing that has been that it saves them money, with the implication being they then pass those savings along to consumers in the form of lower prices.

In 2010 Congress mandated a study of arbitration as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That 768-page report was recently released and contained some interesting findings.

  • Millions of consumers are affected by these mandatory arbitration provisions in everything from cell phone contracts to credit card contracts. (“The CFPB estimates that 80 million credit card holders are subject to mandatory arbitration.”)
  • Very rarely do consumers individually take legal against a company. This makes sense; how many of us are going to take on Verizon alone?
  • Most consumer actions are through class actions.
  • Companies tend not to like class actions and have complained the only people who get money from them are the lawyers. The study found otherwise. “Over a five-year period 420 class action settlements in federal court netted $2.7 billion in cash, fees, and other relief. Contrary to the familiar protests of industry advocates, only 18% of this money went to plaintiffs’ lawyers, meaning $2.2 billion accrued to the benefit of affected consumers, with approximately half paid directly to consumers in cash payouts. These settlements benefitted at least 34 million consumers across America, not to mention all those protected by the settlements’ deterrent value.” http://publicjustice.net/content/cfpb-hearing-data-one-side-empty-rhetoric-other
  • It’s when companies face class actions that they pull out the mandatory arbitration provisions in their contracts. Almost all arbitration clauses prohibit class treatment in arbitration, which means consumers must each go it alone against the company.
  • The study found no evidence that arbitration clauses save companies money which is passed on to consumers.

Hopefully the findings of this study will finally put to rest some of the misinformation that has allowed these mandatory arbitration clauses to flourish for many years.

What if I have other questions about workers compensation?

Georgia’s workers compensation system can be very confusing.  You have to worry about getting the treatment you need and paying your bills while also worrying about not missing any deadlines that could cause you to lose your right to receive workers compensation benefits.

If you have questions, I would recommend that you try to get answers.  To find out more about how to schedule a time to talk to me about your workers compensation questions, just read this short article.

Jason Perkins is an attorney who specializes in representing injured workers.  He regularly publishes videos and write blog articles about Georgia’s workers compensation system and issues that are important to injured workers and their families.

To be notified of Jason’s new workers compensation videos, subscribe to his Georgia Workers Compensation Video Series channel on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button below.

Brittney-lee orourkeBrittney-lee orourke
05:23 18 Feb 22
Amazing! Jason and his team were very helpful and had the best communication by far. Walked me though every step with great detail and had answers for any question I had. They handled my case better then I could imagine, it was a weird case and they stayed on top of it and kept me updated every step of the way! Highly recommend this Team! Thanks so much to Jason and his Awesome team!-Brittney
China JonesChina Jones
18:58 08 Feb 22
I absolutely love this group of attorneys, when I was at my lowest they did everything they could to help me get justice for my injury. I believe if I were to have never picked my phone up and called the amazing group that helped me I definitely would not have received my idea of rights. If you have an issue and are just not sure please understand that they will help you, stay in contact, answer any question you have, and for sure get you the justice you deserve I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I will definitely refer them to anyone who has been hurt because they most definitely care about their work and clients.
Luv LocsLuv Locs
16:08 15 Jan 22
The entire law office was attentive and responsive to all of my concerns dealing with my workers compensation case.
moombimoombi
21:14 02 Jan 22
If you must get a lawyer involved, you’d do well to work with Jason Perkins and his team at Perkins Studdard Law.They were thorough in gathering information and in sharing all the steps in the workers comp process specific to my case. Jason and the team were responsive to my bevy of questions and concerns.I appreciated the informative videos and consultations provided by Jason over video meetings and multiple phone calls.I hope I’m never injured on the job again. However, if I am and if my employer responds as my previous employer did, I’ll contact Perkins Studdard Law immediately to handle the case.
Dana BessDana Bess
23:57 10 Dec 21
Everyone at Perkins Studdard was kind and professional. They were always extremely responsive and answered all questions that I had and followed up to make sure I had an understanding of what was going on along with emailing videos to explain every step of my case so I would know what to expect and be prepared. Jason is a very genuine person and I trusted him with my case. He answered so many questions for me even before I retained him as my WC lawyer. I highly recommend him and his associates at Perkins Studdard.
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Jason Perkins

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