Big business acts the bully

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John Vail / Special to The National Law Journal
August 4, 2008

Americans do not like bullies. Never have. Not on the playground, not in commercial dealings, not at work.

These days, when things do not work right, Americans are being bullied. They cannot do the American thing, and resolve the problem face-to-face. Faceless, soulless "customer service" departments, sometimes consisting solely of a computer program, steal our dignity while pretending to pay attention to our complaints.

And, increasingly, they cannot do that other American thing: sue 'em. Mandatory arbitration takes care of that. The U.S. Supreme Court, expanding a 1925 law to places no member of Congress ever intended it to go, has allowed the bullies to create their own kangaroo courts. Corporate bullies limit their liability and assure that their dirty linen stays out of public courtrooms, hidden in their world of privatized "justice."

They use mandatory arbitration to hide all manner of financial chicanery, and all manner of abuse of workers. Including rape.

Jamie Leigh Jones was 19 and working for Halliburton/KBR in Houston when she volunteered to go to Iraq. Four days after she arrived, she was drugged and gang-raped. Her enemy was not rebel militias, but thugs employed by KBR.

Jamie sued, and KBR said: No way the public hears these stories in court. This goes to arbitration.