Posted on 4/29/2011 11:29 AM By Ted Westbrook
On April 27, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision penned by Justice Antonin Scalia, determined that an arbitration provision in millions of AT&T's subscriber contracts prohibits the filing of class action lawsuits by consumers of AT&T's products. The long-pending case, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, turned on whether a California law disallowing arbitration provisions that waived consumers' rights to bring class claims was contrary to a federal law which favors private arbitrations over lawsuits. The court held that California's law was invalid. Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented.