The PA Chamber joined a national coalition in urging the U.S. Congress to oppose the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act,” which would effectively outlaw arbitration provisions in private contracts.

In a letter sent to Congress, the coalition noted that federal law has protected arbitration as a means of resolving disputes between businesses, consumers and employees.  If this legislation should become law it will lead to more class action lawsuits that will only benefit the lawyers who bring them.

“The only clear beneficiaries of eliminating arbitration clauses are class action lawyers who would directly benefit from increased class action litigation replacing cost-effective and fair arbitration as a viable way to resolve disputes,” the letter states.  “Studies have shown that class action settlements frequently provide at best, a very low return to class members while class action attorneys take in millions of dollars. Their gain would come at the expense of consumers, small businesses and employees, many of whom are not even eligible to participate in class action litigation. And because their claims are too small to attract individual legal representation, they would be left without a remedy altogether if arbitration were eliminated.”