Cyrus Dugger

Victory for Class Actions and Consumer Rights

Cross-posted from the newly launched Consumer Law and Policy Blog

Ban on Consumer Class Actions Held Unconscionable: Wading into the growing battle over the enforceability of class action bans in arbitration agreements, a California appellate court this week said DirecTV could not require its customers to give up their right to class actions and held that a waiver buried in a “bill stuffer” was both procedurally and substantively unconscionable. California’s 2d District was not persuaded by DirecTV’s argument that the possible amount of recovery could be as high as $1,000. While “$1,000 is not an insignificant sum, many consumers of services such as those offered by DirecTV may not view that amount as sufficient to warrant individual litigation.” The court explained that “the class action device remains, in our view, the only practicable way for consumers of services such as DirecTV’s to deter and redress [such] wrongdoing.” The ruling builds on the California Supreme Court’s landmark Discover Bank decision last year.

If you or your organization is interested in learning more about or working on these types of civil justice issues, please contact cdugger@drummajorinstitute.org.

Posted at 3:11 PM, Sep 25, 2006 in Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)