LaGuardia Law

Forced arbitration requires Americans to ‘agree’ to surrender fundamental constitutional rights often without ever realizing they’ve done so. When corporations harm workers and consumers by cheating, stealing, or even breaking the law, cases that should be heard by a judge or jury are instead funneled into a secret system controlled by the wrongdoers in which there is no right to go to court, no right to a jury, no right to a written record, no right to discovery, no transparency, no legal precedents to follow, no opportunity for group actions when it would be too difficult or costly to file a claim alone, no guarantee of an adjudicator with legal expertise, and no meaningful judicial review. https://facesofforcedarbitration.com/report/

Forced arbitration requires Americans to ‘agree’ to surrender fundamental constitutional rights often without ever realizing they’ve done so. When corporations harm workers and consumers by cheating, stealing, or even breaking the law, cases that should be heard by a judge or jury are instead funneled into a secret system controlled by the wrongdoers in which there is no right to go to court, no right to a jury, no right to a written record, no right to discovery, no transparency, no legal precedents to follow, no opportunity for group actions when it would be too difficult or costly to file a claim alone, no guarantee of an adjudicator with legal expertise, and no meaningful judicial review. https://facesofforcedarbitration.com/report/

As unsurprising as it is appalling, unfortunately. When consumers are left with virtually no choices due to a lack of real competition, and cannot seek the protections and accountability that often only class actions can provide (thanks to the SCOTUS' 2011 5-4 ruling that forced-individual-arbitration terms are enforceable), this kind of conduct will always be more common. What can you do? Support efforts (and politicians who support efforts) to strengthen antitrust laws that allow more competition, and efforts to help protect consumers.

That’s nice of the ol’ alma mater. My experience was that it’s an amazing school with amazing faculty, staff, and students. Proud to say I’m an alum.

In December I was honored to advocate on behalf of consumers before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Today the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in our matter and AFFIRMED our victory in federal court where we successfully stopped North American Bancard ("NAB")'s attempt to compel our client to individual arbitration and prevent our efforts to pursue them in a putative class action alleging NAB wrongfully withdrew funds from the bank accounts of our client and others across the country. Now the putative class action seeking justice and accountability for consumers nationwide as only class actions can goes forward. (The Court's Disposition can be found at the following link: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov//memor/2019/03/06/17-56248.pdf)

Eric LaGuardia of LaGuardia Law was honored to advocate on behalf of consumers before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week. [North American Bancard ("NAB"), the defendant in a case co-counsel and LaGuardia Law filed in federal court, moved to compel our client to individual arbitration and stop our efforts to pursue NAB in a putative class action alleging NAB wrongfully withdrew funds from the bank accounts of our client and those similarly situated across the countr...y. We opposed NAB's motion and won based on the federal court's finding NAB's arbitration agreement unenforceable. NAB then filed an appeal of the federal court's decision with the Ninth Circuit. After filing our respective briefs, the Ninth Circuit set a hearing for oral argument on December 6, 2018. We await the Ninth Circuit's Opinion as of the time of this post.] https://youtu.be/aXeLV0qIvrY See more

Some good news!

Today the federal court granted final approval of class action settlement awarding millions of dollars in relief to consumers relating to issues with the Mayweather v. McGregor UFC fight in a case brought by LaGuardia Law and co-counsel Aaron Olsen of H&E. The claims period is still open! File a claim before the deadline at http://www.ufcppvsettlement.com. Great day for consumers!

"Helping the Little Guy Seek Justice" is always the goal, so it makes the day, and then some, to get reviews like the one from this morning.

If you don't stand up for your rights when threatened you can kiss 'em goodbye, and the right to hold large financial institutions and other companies accountable could be saying "so long" sooner than you think. Call your congressional reps and tell them you prefer to be able to do something about it when a bank or other company rips you off. Click here to find your rep's contact info: https://whoismyrepresentative.com/

Perfection. Basically everything you should know about the Equifax Data Breach affecting half of all Americans subjecting them to potential identity theft and/or harm to their credit, delivered in an entertaining and easily understood manner. Enjoy! And then protect yourself. (See: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov///equifax-data-breach-what-do)

There are mostly just two kinds of people against class actions, those who misunderstand them and the companies (and their executives) who are held accountable by them. (Yes, sadly, in America, corporations are considered "people" in many ways, and in the worst ways for consumers, under the law.)

California Rosenthal Act Protects California Residents Against Original Creditors http://ow.ly/fuJq30egt08