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Friday, July 01, 2011
Courts - "Business, Free Speech Winners In High Court Term"
NPR's Nina Totenberg has a good wrap-up today of this just-ended SCOTUS term. It begins:
The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended Monday significantly altered the nation's legal topography, making it much more difficult for people to sue big business. At the same time, the court continued its First Amendment march, making clear that at least five justices, and often more, prize the First Amendment guarantee of free speech over other constitutional values.Seems like things have taken a bad turn for those who do civil litigation:
"It's almost malpractice for a lawyer of a company now not to put an arbitration clause in any kind of document, whether it's a consumer contract or an employment agreement," said Supreme Court advocate Tom Goldstein. "All of those agreements will be enforced and the company [will] no longer face the prospect [of class-action liability], if they write the agreement correctly." * * *Looking at the term overall, observers without exception, see a conservative arc that is hostile to litigation, especially litigation that seeks to regulate business practices by holding companies accountable in court for their actions.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 1, 2011 09:39 AM
Posted to Courts in general