
Susan Fowler files amicus briefs to challenge class action waivers - mcone
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/23/susan-fowlers-lawyers-just-told-the-supreme-court-why-tech-cos-should-eliminate-arbitration-agreements/
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gnicholas
I was surprised to see the headline because I thought I'd missed the part
where she sued in a lower court, the part where the case was appealed multiple
times, and the part where the Supreme Court accepted the case.

Nope, should have realized it was a clickbait title. She's just filing amicus
briefs, which is almost never considered newsworthy.

Edit: Title has been updated, thanks!

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chimeracoder
> just filing amicus briefs, which is almost never considered newsworthy

While the title is rather misleading and I'd encourage the mods to change it,
it's quite common for amicus briefs by groups (or, occasionally, individuals,
though most relevant briefs are written by companies) known to HN to be on the
front page. When the EFF or ACLU files amicus briefs on topics like the TPP or
privacy-related cases, they commonly hit the top 10.

Binding arbitration is a common topic on HN, so it makes perfect sense to me
that an amicus brief on a SCOTUS case about binding arbitration would be
newsworthy.

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jonny_eh
This is hugely important. It's wrong that companies can force people to give
up their democratic rights in order to take a job.

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pktgen
Besides the class action waiver which so blatantly violates the NLRA, an NLRB
administrative law judge recently ruled that Uber's arbitration agreement is
defective in another way: it is likely to be interpreted as prohibiting
employees from filing NLRB charges. The ALJ decision is at
[https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d458249405c](https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d458249405c).

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frandroid
Susan Fowler: a hero the Valley doesn't deserve, but one it sorely needs.

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nimish
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to succeed. The court, especially under
Roberts who is a fan of arbitration, has ruled in favor of arbitration clauses
recently.

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Chaebixi
Wasn't Roberts one of the attorneys involved in formulating the current
binding arbitration strategy that's being used to suppress consumer lawsuits?

I think I read that in the giant investigative piece about arbitration in the
NYT.

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dguaraglia
I hate going into the political realm, but next time someone says "both
parties are the same", point out how many of these Republican appointed judges
are completely against workers' rights.

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pktgen
Agreed. In addition to judicial decisions, Obama's NLRB has issued several
common-sense and worked-friendly decisions over the past several years. The
Republican member(s), which were a minority but soon will be the majority,
always dissent, using tortured "logic" to justify a position that is
inevitably biased towards the employer. When NLRB decisions voted upon party
lines are reviewed in court, they have a higher chance of being upheld by
Democrat-appointed judges.

The Republican members are there to represent management.

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shaqbert
In my country, arbitration is NOT legally binding. That said, the court ruling
is often the same but much more onerous costly and time consuming. Thus
arbitration rulings are accepted 9 out of 10 times.

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splintercell
Which country would that be? As far as I know majority of the countries are
signatories of New York Convention [1] which makes arbitration binding.

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Recognition_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Recognition_and_Enforcement_of_Foreign_Arbitral_Awards)

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jaclaz
>which makes arbitration binding

That is AFAIK for international arbitrations, does not affect "domestic" ones.

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valuearb
"Collective litigation — when meritorious — usually results in settlement
negotiations (or bargaining), a “collective” settlement agreement, an
improvement in working conditions, and a reduction of industrial strife"

I think they mistyped "an improvement in working conditions" when they meant
"lawyers taking most of the payments and the class getting next to nothing" in
typical class actions

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ragnarcs
Something has got to change if we want the industry to change. This may be
unlikely to succeed, but change has to start somewhere.

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dominotw
saw this on BBC today

Uber drama fails to hurt its business, figures suggest
[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41032868](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41032868)

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DarkKomunalec
As a society, we have to decide - do we allow economic pressure to be used to
make people give up their fundamental rights?

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golemotron
I don't think there is any fundamental right to sue private parties in the US.
If you find it, please post about it.

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jasonzemos
The bill of rights merely lists some rights that you already have even without
the bill of rights. They are called natural rights -- in fact the bill is a
limit on government, not a grant to the people from government.

That being said, the constitution has established an independent judiciary
which has little limit to what matters it can opine. You have a right to
petition that judiciary. You're somewhat correct in that you don't have a
right for them to listen.

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Chaebixi
> That being said, the constitution has established an independent judiciary
> which has little limit to what matters it can opine.

I don't think that's actually true. IANAL, but IIRC the jurisdiction of the
federal judiciary is quite limited compared to that of the states.

