The National Arbitration Forum Blog

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. April 25, 2005 — A California Superior Court in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the National Arbitration Forum had not disclosed results of consumer and employment arbitration cases subject to the California Arbitration Act.

The National Arbitration Forum said the law did not define the cases that were subject to disclosure and, additionally, that the law was pre-empted by the Federal Arbitration Act. The National Arbitration Forum also said that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring their §17200 claim for “unfair competition,” following the adoption of Proposition 64 by the California electorate. Although the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and other federal and state courts had previously ruled that the plaintiffs’ legal theories were pre-empted by federal law, the San Francisco Superior Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ case at the very outset because they had not suffered injury and were without standing to bring the claim.

This case constitutes vindication from special interests that oppose arbitration. The empirical evidence shows that arbitration provides enormous savings of both time and expense to millions of Americans (if not to lawyers who make their living by filing lawsuits). A recent nationwide study by Ernst & Young of consumer arbitration and a recent Harris poll of consumers who had used arbitration show widespread benefits to consumers. Results from both independent initiatives demonstrate that consumers do as well in arbitration as they do in court, but in much less time and at a much lower cost, and that their satisfaction with arbitration is very high.

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