Ralph welcomes consumer advocates, Laura Antonini and Harvey Rosenfield, whose latest report is entitled “Reboot Required” about how in the past fifty years the civil justice system in America has fundamentally been weighted toward corporations and how ordinary people can start taking back that power. Plus, Ralph answers a listener question on the Ukraine crisis, and we pay tribute to two progressive champions, Paul Farmer and Joe Tom Easley.
Laura Antonini is an attorney and the Consumer Education Foundation’s Policy Director. She focuses on reforming deceptive practices law and class action litigation procedures. Previously, she was a staff attorney at Consumer Watchdog, where she worked on complex litigation in federal and state court, as well as California insurance regulatory issues. She is co-author (with Harvey Rosenfield) of the Reboot Required report and the accompanying Represent Act.
Harvey Rosenfield is one of the nation’s foremost consumer advocates and founder of the advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog based in Santa Monica California. Among many other accomplishments, Mr. Rosenfield authored Proposition 103 that has saved consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in auto insurance premiums. He has also co-authored groundbreaking initiatives on HMO reform and utility rate deregulation and is the author of the book, “Silent Violence, Silent Death: the Hidden Epidemic of Medical Malpractice.” He is co-author (with Laura Antonini) of the Reboot Required report and the accompanying Represent Act.
It’s time to bring consumer rights back on the map. It’s time to talk about going to court to hold these companies accountable. We see corporate greed disaster after corporate greed disaster… and it’s time for us to take the power back.
Laura Antonini, co-author of Reboot Required: The Civil Justice System Has Crashed
[Seeing how distorted our justice system was] actually had the opposite impact of discouraging me. It made me so angry that it motivated me… Instead of being discouraged, I felt actually inspired.
Laura Antonini, co-author of Reboot Required: The Civil Justice System Has Crashed
One thing we’ve had in common all these years is a sense of outrage, when we personally see these everyday indignities. And I’ve experienced them, and I know you’ve experienced them… You can’t go through life as an average person in this country– I’m not talking about the elites or the wealthy, they don’t care, they’re taken care of– but the rest of us can’t go through our daily lives without getting hammered.
Harvey Rosenfield, co-author of Reboot Required: The Civil Justice System Has Crashed
I personally think that public confidence in the legal system has collapsed because the law no longer protects them, and we document that in our report Reboot Required. And when people lose faith in the rule of law… when that rule of law collapses because people no longer believe in it, we face anarchy and violence.
Harvey Rosenfield, co-author of Reboot Required: The Civil Justice System Has Crashed
We– as consumer advocates and environmental advocates and civil rights advocates– are all so busy trying to defend our rights, people haven’t taken the time to recognize that our rights have basically been stolen from us. They’re not enforced. And we, as people, need to be able to take matters into our own hands through the legal system and regain control.
Harvey Rosenfield, co-author of Reboot Required: The Civil Justice System Has Crashed
[Reboot Required] is not only a panorama of corporate crime, fraud, and abuse. But a detailed state model reform statute that any state, your state, your state legislators can introduce and have hearings on from Oregon to Florida, and California to Maine.
Ralph Nader
[Fine print contracts] have destroyed the great pillar, known as the “freedom of contract”, which the conservatives made a big deal out of years ago– they don’t do much criticism of these corporations who’ve taken away these rights of contract. So these companies will become their own private legislature. They actually override or undermine or circumvent laws on the books by saying, “Oh no, you waived it. You agreed to compulsory arbitration. You can’t go to court.”
Ralph Nader
How To Take Back Your Power!