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How Corporations Award Themselves Legal Immunity
Whether it's in your employment contract or the paperwork for a cell phone, it's odds on that the small print says you can't sue
Worried about the influence of money in American politics, the huge cash payouts that the US supreme court waved through by its Citizens United decision – the decision that lifted most limits on election campaign spending? Corporations are having their way with American elections just as they've already had their way with our media.
But at least we have the courts, right?
Wrong. The third branch of government's in trouble, too. In fact, access to justice – like access to elected office, let alone a pundit's perch – is becoming a perk just for the rich and powerful.
Take the young woman now testifying in court in Texas. Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was drugged and gang-raped while working for military contractor KBR in Iraq (at the time, a division of Halliburton). Jones, now 26, was on her fourth day in post in Baghdad in 2005 when she says she was assaulted by seven contractors and held captive, under armed guard by two KBR police, in a shipping container.
When the criminal courts failed to act, her lawyers filed a civil suit, only to be met with Halliburton's response that all her claims were to be decided in arbitration – because she'd signed away her rights to bring the company to court when she signed her employment contract. As Leigh testified before Congress, in October 2009, "I had signed away my right to a jury trial at the age of 20 and without the advice of counsel." It was a matter of sign or resign. "I had no idea that the clause was part of the contract, what the clause actually meant," testified Jones.
You've probably done the very same thing without even knowing it. When it comes to consumer claims, mandatory arbitration is the new normal. According to research by Public Citizen and others, corporations are inserting "forced arbitration" clauses into the fine print of contracts for work, for cell phone service, for credit cards, even nursing home contracts, requiring clients to give up their right to sue if they are harmed. Arbitration is a no-judge, no-jury, no-appeal world, where arbitrators are (often by contract) selected by the company and all decisions are private – and final.
Deadly small print is not only for subprime mortgage-seekers – and neither are the costly repercussions. When corporations evade the bills for harm, no matter how huge (for medical malpractice, say, or pension fund collapse), the liability is passed on to individuals, and then to taxpayers. A new documentary, Hot Coffee, premiering 27 June, on HBO, lays out the whole picture – and it's devastating.
First-time filmmaker Susan Saladoff starts where for many Americans, the term "tort reform" first appeared. Stella Liebeck, an 81-year-old woman, sued McDonald's over coffee that was "too hot" – and became the "welfare queen" of tort reform. Pilloried in corporate-funded PR and in the media after a jury imposed an initial $2.7m in punitive damages, lobbyists used Liebeck's case to deride "frivolous" lawsuits and bludgeon congressional and state legislators into passing laws that set maximum "caps" on damages. (Politicians all the way up to President George W Bush needed no bludgeoning: "frivolous suits" became a campaign trail hit.)
But look at the pictures Saladoff shows in Hot Coffee and you'll see Liebeck's legs seared by savage, third-degree burns, which covered over 16% of her body. As any reporter could have discovered at the time, McDonalds' protocols kept its coffee at 82-87ºC (180-190ºF). Over 700 people had been burned by it. Ten years of suits and claims had forced no change. Liebeck's suit was anything but "frivolous".
Likewise, Jones's suit. Or the big-business funded effort to unseat justices opposed to "tort reform" – also profiled in Hot Coffee. It's taken Jones nearly six years and a hearing in the US Senate to force her employer, Halliburton into open court, at last, in Houston this week. Jones tells Saladoff she's driven by concern for other young women in her position – in no position, that is, thanks to mandatory arbitration, to know the truth about past claims and what they may be getting into when they sign an employment contract.
Saladoff, a plaintiff's attorney for 25 years, is driven, too – by a belief in the seventh amendment right to a jury trial. "Tort" is a complicated word for a simple thing – "harm," she explains. The courts are supposed to be the branch of government where citizens and corporations have an equal shot. The US supreme court in Dukes v Walmart recently rejected 1.6 million workers' attempt to bring a class action case – making it a whole lot harder for Americans to band together to hold corporations accountable. Go it alone and the deck is stacked, thanks to decades of effort by corporations and the politicians they pay for.
They don't pay fair wages; they don't pay their fare share of taxes. They evade liability. What gives? Says Saladoff: "When corporations harm, there should be some way to hold them accountable."
32 Comments so far
Show AllLet me sum up: "How Corporations Award Themselves Legal Immunity."
They OWN the politicians. When you control the government, you control the laws.
Nice of this lady to finally figure that out. Succinct article, but a bit late in the game.
And this is how they do it...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-usa-shell-companies-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628
i guess one is always free to scratch one's head and ponder how in the world our justice system got so off the rails - but as laura points out the bribery and payoffs factor into the essence of amerikan justice - always has
fact is: our legal system is a joke and always has been - just ask the first nations
same goes for democracy - joke then joke now
sock puppets like obummer spew the corporate lines about our national interests and send the boys and girls to blast the fuck out of some third world peasant because we want to steal their oil - gold - gas- water - trees - whatever isn't nailed down and lots that is
its a prison and we all live in it
the great first nations activist russell means has pointed out that amerika has become a reservation for everybody
"A culture which regularly confuses revolution with continuation, which confuses science and religion, which confuses revolt with resistance, has nothing helpful to teach you and nothing to offer you as a way of life. Europeans have long since lost all touch with reality, if they ever were in touch with it. "
http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/tag/reservation/
http://www.russellmeans.com/
or as george carlin so succinctly put it:
shit in - shit out
When I worked in the Gulf Bribes and Payoffs was the normal way of doing business. I was kicked out of one oil base for compaining to an outfit that was running supplies to my vessel off shore. Items were missing and I went investigating. I was run out of ODECO Oil Base on Rail. AGain I always thought that kind of conduct would be in the corrupt southern States but now it is the normal way of doing business. And there just mean people.
Brazilian ethnographer Eduardo Vivieros de Castro, on conceptual walk-about defining how we as 'other' to the powers that be are manipulated into internalizing an atavistic and false european identity:
We're all indians, except who is not...
reading this man's writings is a roller coaster ride through the mind bending that goes on - scathing and funny:
http://nansi.abaetenet.net/abaetextos/anthropology-and-science-e-viveiros-de-castro
Systematic watering down of the laws protecting We the People has resulted in legalistic gobledygook replacing the simple "reasonable person" standard. Previously, each case was dealt with on its own merits, on its own set of facts and circumstances.
Now, unconscionable boilerplate "fine print" is the norm, and it's never read by the person accepting the goods or services. Completely one-sided contracts are offered in a "take it or leave it" fashion.
Of course, if the injured party is RICH, then their fancy mouthpiece can likely get a settlement. For the rest of us poor slobs, we are SOL.
It's OK to strike-out offensive clauses in boilerplate. I've done it. The counter salesman/saleswoman will say, "You can't do that."
"Sure I can, go ask your lawyer. Everything is negotiable." Ten minutes later, the counter salesman returns and says, "OK. Just mark it up and sign it."
Don't allow yourself to be steamrollered. But, it's getting tougher every day.
Good for you! I do exactly the same thing. Every time anybody hands me a piece of paper and wants my signature, I *read* it, and start striking out line after line until I'm satisfied it is legally meaningless. The irony is that so few people do it (I was told at my doctor's office that nobody ever questioned their privacy policy) that they just don't know how to handle someone who appears to be more knowledgeable than they are about contract law. And most people who want you to sign these forms don't know anything and are just following the "rules." I let them know the rules are always negotiable or I refuse to sign.
My motto is: If in doubt, strike it out.
Excellent work by Laura.
I will be watching Hot Coffee soon on HBO
"They don't pay fair wages; they don't pay their fare share of taxes. They evade liability. What gives? Says Saladoff: "When corporations harm, there should be some way to hold them accountable.""
That would mean there would have to be regulation, oversight and accountability and for decades we've been sold the line that all those things are bad for the economy and businesses specifically.
We got tort reform in Texas in 2003 and it effectively took away the right of the lower and middle class to sue. It put "a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering—a cap that hits the elderly and the poor especially hard".
No one who is not rich can sue because no lawyer can take the case and make any money.
Read on from an article from the ABA Journal:
"Stay-at-home mothers, children and the elderly often don’t have enough income or proof of future income to qualify for significant economic damages. Thus the cap on noneconomic damages makes their cases too costly for plaintiffs lawyers to pursue.
This is tort reform and it doesn't lower costs or give any benefits to the people.
Oh, but it gets even better.
On May 31 2011 Rick Perry signed legislation that:
"In a unanimous vote last week, the Texas senate adopted ‘loser pays’ tort-reform legislation, which says that a plaintiff must pay the winning party’s legal fees if their complaint is judged to be groundless."
The Tea Baggers got what they wanted and I hope they choke on it.
Hot Coffee is well worth an hour of anyone's time.
"McDonalds' protocols kept its coffee at 82-87ºC (180-190ºF)"
This temperature ruins coffee destroying the flavor so why does McDonalds do this???
So they don't have to clean the coffee equipment thus saving on the labor costs.
Who cares whether the rabble gets good coffee anyway?
After I got out of the Coast Guard I worked in the Gulf of Mexico La, Tx, and Mexico. I spent about 2 years in that Industry and left to take a job with RCA in Massachusetts. Two Reason 1. Very hot and humid and a miserable place to live. 2. Ethic's which companies like Halliburton, Brown and Root. I was working for an Offshore Supply Boat Outfit doing a six month contract running cargo to Mexico. Well after 6 weeks they sent a telex to cancel the contract. I was told after a meeting with the Company I worked for which was headquarted in Delaware. They wanted to sue. I was told bluntly buy the southern Broker of the Job that if we sue you might as well move your operation out of the Gulf because your equipment plus myself would never get hired in the Gulf again. When I left in 1980 and "flipped the Bird" to La. as I crossed over into Mississippi when going north that I figured that kind of conduct would only be in the south. Well come 2000 (Surprise Surprise Surprise). And the worse part of Miss Jones is I think she will lose and Fox News will make her out to be some kind of Floozie. When will Americans rise up to these corporations and fight back?
That is because BIG Government serves BIG Corporation - this also has a name, a man who knew a lot about this subject, Benito Mussolini once called this FASCISM.
This is why the benefit of removing the power from the government to write laws and regulations to protect the Too BIG to Fail corporations would only help to benefit the individual.
When are people going to start to realize that government is NOT here to serve YOU but to serve the revolving door of Billionaires who go from BIG Corporation to BIG Government or vice versa over and over again.
Dr Britt laid it all out for us. How many of the items below do you see here in the "United" States? For a shorter list, what is listed here that "we" are not doing?
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Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forgo civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
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In short, we are no longer citizens of the Constitutional Republic once known as the United States of America, for it no longer exists.
We are now serfs and subjects of the American Fascist Empire. As such, we no longer have "Rights." We only have obligations, put on us by the Empire
Not surprising how the few 'immunize' themselves as they are always concocting ways of doing so. They are actively and aggressively and perpetually doing this. The citizens, who 'have' to live by their rules are no where near or close to keeping up with these shenanigans. That is part and parcel of the M$M's and consumerism's function and its varying venues. Another aspect is the total loss of any citizens getting any part of government to speak and act for them, legislative-judicial-presidency, they are all bought and paid for by the 'elite'.
And because the M$M's dumbstream garden has become so detached, narcotized and distracted, they will, like lambs being led to slaughter, never question or object. Absolutely no will to act against what is like a cancer that will consume them by the time they realize it is too late.
For anyone to do anything to thwart what is going on will require that citizens become VERY active in keep up with what the 'elite' are doing and having plans and their own think tanks to be able to counteract what is happening. But as mentioned above, that is not a doable game plan. The M$M and shopping have seen to that.
There will be no 'arab spring' in this wasted country.
The time has come to start calling corporations what they really are. They are not a person but a group of people called investors that care only about themselves and the profit they can make hiding behind the curtains of a "corporation." It is time to remove the curtain and expose the people behind it and expose them for what they really are. Very selfish greedy people that expect profit no matter what the corporation does they are hiding behind. So next time you see the word "corporation," find out who is behind that curtain and expose them to the citizens of this country and the world.
"The time has come to start calling corporations what they really are."
Can't agree with you more. It'll take a new Party and a new set of directions to do that though. The Dems stake their very soul on preventing just that.
"... next time you see the word 'corporation,' find out who is behind that curtain and expose them..."
The sentiment is correct, but individuals can't do it effectively. We NEED vision, direction and leadership to pull that off. Time for political reorganization -- in a big way. This could change, but the best we have right now are the Greens. They exist now, and they stand for what you say.
Corporations are alive and unincorporated humans are treated like zombies.
Our taxpayer paid politicians work for the Corporate, not the people.
Professional politicians' lives are ones of corporate paid perks.
No-one is left to represent the people, Labor is it.
You need a party that includes Labor. Labor alone, especially with all the downsizing, outsourcing, etc. cannot pull it off anymore. The Dems made sure of that. And provided the vaseline for the ... um ...process.
Republicans alone could never have trashed Labor, 'cause they'd have created a worker backlash they couldn't handle. It took the Democratic Party, through duplicity and scheming to quiet workers' roar to a whimper. Ask yourself: were they too scared to fight McCarthyism ... or simply partners in it?
As always a great article Laura, we the people get screwed over and over again by the corporate elite who has bought government at every level. The commons no longer work for the people and we must take back our commons, take by our government of and by the people. And that is a responsibility that was talked about in our constitution by our founders.
Reminder that Obama voted for giving the telecoms RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY.
And after he did that, many of those here voted him in as President and continue to be in denial.
Tell it like it is, GoingGreen!
We're a NATION in denial. There is no shame left. And little will.
We either band together now in a new direction ... or pack it in. "Home of the Brave, Land of the Free", indeed. Rubbish, Rublic relations.
Mandatory binding arbitration clauses have been a pet peeve of mine for quite a while. You sign onto them, I sign on to them, we all do at some point. Sign away your constitutional rights or you don't receive the service/product/job.
When people say things like, "take them to small claims court", I have to laugh and say, "What a quaint old-fashioned notion."
I must agree.
WE MUST get a law which makes it illegal, unconstitutional to " sign away your rights." That must NOT be possible!. Rights are, they say "unalienable", don't they? ONLY courts shall decide -- then of course, clean up the process of getting on a court...
After the United States Supreme Court granted Corporations "Personhood" with Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad it has all been down hill for us flesh and blood mortals. There is no justice for the American people anymore.
I am tired of banging on the same key over and over again, but this is a perfect example of why the Democratic Party is a Worse-than-Useless entity: it is positively Dangerous!
Laura Flanders' frightening, but accurate description of the trend towards Corporate Immunity to ... EVERYTHING! ... has been going on for decades. Where was the public campaign or a bill in Congress by the Party to STOP, or at least denounce, this slide to corporate dictatorship.
Why the hell are we now - DECADES later - bemoaning our fate, and what? Expecting to ask Dems to help us out???!!
Buying of elections, de-funding of schools and health care, shrinking unions, constant undeclared wars, the Rip-off of Wall Street ... exactly WHERE has "the party of the people" stepped in and SAVED us -- or even TRIED??
We had to be building an alternative party DECADES ago, one that would talk about such trends and crimes ALL the time: in literature, in slogans, in organizing and in campaigns. So-called 'progressives' have satisfied themselves by moaning about the situation in their NGO's, but then in the end campaigning for Dems, expecting somehow that THEY'LL (Dems) DO something. Hello!!?
Those who SEE the problems have to band together to DO something about them. Dems' job is to SILENCE or sideline those who see.
Wanna play huggy-kissy with the Enemy? This is what you get ... and probably deserve.
Sooner or later the powerful oligarchs get their comeuppance, and after times in which there are not safety valves for the rest of us, the time of the comeuppance isn't pretty. Witness the guillotines of the 1790s or the firing squads of 1918 or 1959. Think those times won't come again? Surely they will. And the blame will fall squarely on the shoulders of the oligarchs who got too greedy. There's a reason that the rich and powerful of an earlier built the tort system into the laws: It help avoid the guillotine later. Only greedy fools would shut of all avenues of hope for their victims.
Let's us get this right. We cannot get a job unless we sign away our right to sue the company in court.
Corporate rules trump the US Constitution.
Welcome to the stinking corporate fascist state called America. Just another example of the sh--hole that the anti-American corporations have turned this country into. We owe corporations nothing except eternal hatred and retribution. They are anti-humanity.
Harsh words, aremagen.
Shame we need them.
See my post above,
Posted by minitrue
Jun 29 2011 - 12:31am
The offense rests.
I don't care how they do it. I care about why my government allows it.