In his August 2020 column for Chicago Lawyer Magazine, Robert Clifford, Senior Partner at Clifford Law Offices, wrote an article titled, “Bill Would Protect Riders.”
In this article, Robert discusses a piece of legislation introduced in Congress in March known as the Ending Passenger Rail Forced Arbitration Act, which seeks to end Amtrak’s forced arbitration policy.
Amtrak’s policy, which the bill seeks to end, provides that anyone who buys a ticket would be left with arbitration as their sole remedy for a claim involving injury or death rather than having the right to take their cases to court. The policy has been criticized, being called anti-consumer and unfair, and the bill seeks to ensure that Amtrak cannot escape public responsibility for any injuries through the use of forced arbitration.
To read Robert’s full article and learn more about the bill and its importance, click here.
Please note: Since the publication of Robert Clifford’s column, a recent case in federal district court dismissed a plaintiff’s case brought by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen that challenged the constitutionality of Amtrak’s mandatory arbitration provision. The case is Weissman v. et al. v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 1:20-cv-00028 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.