Last week in this space, I blogged about how the recent Supreme Court rulings have been decidedly pro-business.
In an op-ed in the 7/2/13 New York Times, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, writes about the “disturbing trend” of the Supreme Court favoring businesses and closing “the courthouse doors to employees, consumers and small businesses seeking remedy for serious injuries.” The Court’s narrow construction of Federal laws to limit lawsuits against corporations “could have a devastating effect on people who have been wronged by companies.” In fact, the decision in American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant allows a company to “violate antitrust law yet immunize itself from liability through an arbitration clause.” Chemerinsky concludes that the “disquieting theme” of the conservative majority of the Roberts Court is the belief that big business should be protected from litigation, leaving “injured employees, consumers and small businesses without recourse.”
The full op-ed piece can be read here.
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