The US Supreme Court has rendered a decision in favor of AT&T on the usage of contractually enforced third-party arbitration for settling disputes with customers, greatly reducing the power of class action lawsuits by forcing individuals to fight disputes on an individual basis as spelled out in the service agreement. The 5-4 decision was entered via party lines, with Justice Scalia stating that using class action suits to settle customer arbitration issues do more harm by violating existing federal statutes that favor arbitration.
The Supreme Court decision reverses two previous lower court decisions filed in the state of California that sided with consumers on the usage of class action suits to settle disputes with the carrier, as California has its own set of statutes regarding consumer protection and litigation and are considered some of the most pro-consumer statutes in the country.
