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Supreme Court Will Hear DirecTV Arbitration Appeal

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The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear DirecTV’s appeal regarding the company’s assertion that customer disagreements should be resolved through private arbitration rather than in court.

The El Segundo satellite TV giant is appealing a 2014 ruling by a California appeals court that said consumers did not have to be bound to a provision in DirecTV’s customer agreement that says disputes could only be resolved individually through arbitration and not by class-action lawsuits.

“We are pleased the Supreme Court has granted our petition for certiorari, and we look forward to presenting the court with our arguments,” said DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer.

Consumer advocacy groups have protested the use of arbitration, saying it does not benefit consumers because they are denied their right to fight complaints in court.

The issue goes back as far as 2008 when two DirecTV customers, Amy Imburgia and Kathy Greiner, filed class actions accusing the company of false advertising and violating the Consumer Legal Remedies Act when it imposed early termination cancellation fees. The California Court of Appeal’s Second District ruled in favor of the consumers, though a different court ruled in DirecTV’s favor in a similar case.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear DirecTV’s appeal during its next term, which starts in October.

Karen Jordan Author