{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://franken.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2641", "In Hearing, Sen. Franken Examines Americans' Right to Challenge Corporations in Court", "2013-12-17", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Al Franken", "F000457", "franken.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Witness after witness confirmed today during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, chaired by U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), that big corporations are denying consumers their right to challenge unfair practices in court and pointed to Sen. Franken's bill as a solution to restore workers', small businesses', and service members' access to justice. You can download video of Sen. Franken's opening statement here.\n\"For several years, I've worked to return access to justice to consumers, workers, and small businesses in Minnesota,\" said Sen. Franken. \"It's clear from today's hearing that we're at a point where big corporations can write their own rules and insulate themselves from liability for wrongdoing\u2014this can't continue. We need to restore Americans' right to challenge unfair practices in court. I'll continue to push for passage of my bill to do just that.\" \nTo restore Minnesotans' access to justice, Sen. Franken introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act, which would prohibit mandatory, pre-dispute arbitration in consumer, employment, civil rights, and antitrust cases.\nMandatory arbitration is as big a problem in Minnesota as it is across the country. During the hearing, witness Vildan A. Teske\u2014a Minnesota lawyer who represents Minnesota service members facing unfair practices by lenders\u2014recounted the story of an active duty soldier whose mortgage lender falsified an affidavit and foreclosed on his house while he was serving in Iraq. The lender essentially got away with the foreclosure because the lender included a class action ban in the soldier's mortgage documents.\nYou can watch the exchange here.\nSpecifically, Sen. Franken's Arbitration Fairness Act does the following:\n\u00a0\n \nRestores the original intent of the Federal Arbitration Act by clarifying the scope of its application.\u00a0\nAmends the Federal Arbitration Act by adding a new chapter invalidating agreements that require the arbitration of employment, consumer, civil rights, or antitrust disputes made before the dispute arises.\u00a0\nRestores the rights of workers, consumers, and small businesses trying to seek justice in our courts.\u00a0\nEnsures transparency in civil litigation.\u00a0\nProtects the integrity of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, among others.\n \n\u00a0\nSen. Franken's bill currently has the support of 23 Senators and 71 Representatives.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://franken.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2641"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7958449423313141, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}