Terry Baynes of Thomson Reuters has an interesting article on efforts by a few plaintiffs’ attorneys to “crowd source” consumer arbitration claims. The effort arises out of the Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011), upholding class action waivers in mandatory arbitration clauses. The article discusses how two plaintiffs’ attorneys have created a website to generate consumer interest in filing multiple arbitration claims against a company with the stated goal of overwhelming the company “with hundreds or thousands of claims.” The article quotes one of the founding lawyers as saying, “If it happens enough, companies will want class actions again.” Andrew Pincus, who represented AT&T Mobility before the Supreme Court, is quoted as calling the site “marketing front for plaintiffs’ law firms.” Mr. Pincus discussed Concepcion at DRI’s 2011 Class Action Seminar in Washington, DC. DRI will hold the next edition of the Class Action Seminar on July 25 and 26, 2013. That program is expected to include discussions of the Supreme Court’s current term’s class action and collective action cases. More details on that will follow soon.
