Congress Continues To Examine Forced Arbitration

By Anna Claire Turpin


An historic piece of legislation was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 20, 2019. The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, (HR 1423) was introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-GA-4). The FAIR Act applies to individual actions as well as joint, class, or collective actions and proposes to end forced arbitration of employment, consumer, civil rights, and antitrust disputes.  Pre-dispute arbitration agreements in the above-mentioned types of cases will not be valid or enforceable.


Should this Bill pass in the Senate, the landscape of litigation in antitrust, consumer, employment, and civil rights disputes will drastically change.  The potential ramifications include more rights and opportunities for individuals to bring actions against corporations as well as a potentially dramatic increase in the caseloads of court systems as more actions are brought within the judicial process.


The Senate received this Bill on September 24, 2019 and referred it to the Committee on the Judiciary.


Anna Claire Turpin practices in Smith Debnam’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Compliance Group.