It’s about time
A bill backed by consumer groups to protect homeowners, employees and investors from mandatory arbitration agreements was introduced Thursday in the House and Senate.
Oh, I know the argument, “you don’t have to sign the agreement.” Right. If every other business is following the same practice, you won’t sign any agreement ever. And it isn’t as if you can negotiate the agreement. Businesses have set contracts and they aren’t going to change it on a case by case basis. That’s assuming that you can afford the lawyer to negotiate for you.
When we were signing the contract for our first house, the builder rep wasn’t happy with us because we didn’t go through their title company. As the process dragged on we were given a 15 page document to read about each side’s responsibility. Very tiny print. Front and back. My husband looked at it and skipped to the back and signed. The rep told him that he was supposed to read everything before signing. My husband asked her if we would get the house if we didn’t agree with the conditions and refused to sign. She said “no.” “So I may as well sign it,” he said.
It’s ridiculous for businesses to pretend that they are entering into an agreement between equals when consumers sign contracts with binding arbitration. If all businesses are doing it, then it’s the equivalent of price fixing and it’s about time the government steps-in to do something about it.
Technorati Tags: mandatory arbitration, homeowners, Texas Residential Construction Commission, TRCC, home builders
Filed under: TRCC, Texas Residential Construction Commission, home builders, homeowners, madatory arbitration
You are a crazy liberal and I am a staunch conservative.
I agree with you on this one though. Its nice to know we can sometimes agree on certain things.
I’d rather go with me being the staunch liberal and you the crazy conservative but why create unnecessary divisions when we have discovered common ground?
Sorry for the delay in responding, I’ve involved in a very crazy conservative activity.