SACRAMENTO - A huge volume of employment and consumer disputes will be driven into courtrooms and away from "alternative dispute resolution" by Assembly Bill 858 (Kuehl) approved by the California state Assembly Judiciary Committee today. This is the assessment of the Civil Justice Association of California which is opposed to the bill.

A cornerstone of personal injury lawyers' 1999 legislative agenda, the bill is designed to eliminate the arbitration agreements frequently used in buyer-seller and employer-employee contracts to settle future disputes through a neutral arbitrator instead of with a costly courtroom battle.

"This bill is anti-employee and anti-consumer. The vast number of disputes are over relatively small amounts and taking these to court is expensive," said John H. Sullivan, Civil Justice Association president. "The bill forces consumers and employees into a boxöeither they spend much more money paying for a trial process, or try to find a contingency-fee lawyer who won't tell them there's not enough money involved to make it worthwhile to take the case."

Sullivan added that no public need for this legislation has been shown. In contracts where both sides agree to arbitrate future disagreements, the courts can and do strike down unfair arbitration contracts and strike out parts of arbitration that are unfair.

"The trial lawyer industry has a vested interest in promoting costly litigation that drives up settlement values," said Sullivan. "The bigger the prospect of a long and costly courtroom trial, the bigger the chance for a contingency fee windfall."