Mediation of disputes and judicial reform

[Christine]

A major reason for credit defaults is the corporate unfair advantage in the courts. Actually, that's really an understatement. The corporations practically OWN most courts and judges. Their contracts are written to give the consumers NO rights, the terms are NOT negotiable and they often even remove the right to go to court by requiring mandatory arbitration.

See http://credit-crisis.info/judicial-refo ... litigants/

Of course we can't change the state and federal court systems, but we CAN change how disputes are resolved within the organization.

Initially we might want to require non binding arbitration. Similar to the PayPal disputes, the buyer and seller first try to resolve the issue through direct communications.

If the dispute is NOT resolved, there should be a small ($10?) fee like a court filing fee. An arbitrator will then review each party's statement and documentation to try to make a fair ruling.

Everything is submitted online and the arbitrator may schedule a conference calls to get answers to specific questions.

Because there are no complicated laws to follow, any member with common sense, good communications and basic math skills can become an arbitrator.

Unlike in the state and federal courts, it is ILLEGAL to lie. Usually, the best liar prevails in US courts, judges openly REWARD even the most obvious perjury and the opposing party has NO recourse at all. The arbitrator should award sanctions for false statements.

The arbitrator is paid by the hour, either by the party who lost the case or by the organization - depending on the type of dispute.

The parties AND the arbitrator may conduct discovery. With the exception of personal data such as addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc., everything including discovery responses is available to all members online at no charge.

After some experience, the terms might be changed to require BINDING arbitration.