Hearing of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law of the House Judiciary Committee - Statement of Rep. Hank Johnson, Hearing on Forced Arbitration

Hearing

"Thank you Chairman (David) Cicilline (D-RI). The issue of forced pre-dispute arbitration is very important to me. And it's a battle I've been fighting a long time. Twelve years ago, when I was a freshman in Congress, I first introduced a bill that would render pre-dispute arbitration clauses unenforceable in certain employment, consumer, and civil rights cases.

"You see, I believed that when one party is vastly more powerful than another, it just doesn't make sense for the bigger guy to be able to force the smaller one into a situation that's skewed in favor of the bigger entity. And that's just what forced arbitration is--it stacks the deck in against the less powerful individuals in favor of large corporations. In so-called arbitration courts, the controlling party often gets to choose the arbitrator and the rules applied. The judge and the jury, if you will.

"Arbitration is meant to be a business-to-business contractual device. That's what the legislature intended when it passed the Federal Arbitration Act ninety-four years ago. Today's perversion of the arbitration tool has allowed employers to ignore protections for service members provided under UCERRA, prevented consumers from joining together in a class, and hurt small business owners repeatedly.

"Today, I'm a little grayer, but just as committed to passing a bill that will even the litigation playing field. This congress, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act has two-hundred-and-one cosponsors. As reporting about arbitration clauses becomes widespread, Americans are realizing how they're being tricked, and they're starting to fight back. My bill would help restore the right to the courthouse for Americans everywhere, and restore fairness to our legal system.

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