Mary Glover, a Pittsburgh-area homeowner
living on Social Security disability income, is taking on Goldman Sachs and
Wells Fargo, charging that they've violated federal and state consumer
protection laws and breached contracts.
Yet, because of a decision by one judge, she
and thousands of homeowners like her could be priced out of their ability to
fight back in court against shady dealings by the nation's biggest banks. And
while the decision in this case may seem exceptional, as Dahlia Lithwick
and others have pointed out, it's part of a disturbing pattern of the courts
shutting their doors to everyday litigants and class-action suits—and in some
cases, literally handing corporations a playbook on how to get away with
screwing over the little guy.
As she and her attorneys
attempt to get Wells Fargo and Goldman to hand over documents relevant to her
case, the banks' repeated stalling caused the judge to appoint a “special
master” over the case—and required Glover to split the fees for this outside
attorney equally with the defendants, banks with billions to spare (and, of
course, billions in bailouts from the federal government as well).
“It's a David and
Goliath situation. When you escalate the costs, there's simply no way that a
low-income litigant can keep up,” attorney Scott Michelman, with Public
Citizen's Litigation Group, told AlterNet. Michelman and Public Citizen are
representing Ms. Glover in a new federal lawsuit filed in the Third District
Court of Appeals on May 24, charging that the appointment of the special master
in this case will effectively stifle Ms. Glover's ability to go forward with
her claims.
No comments:
Post a Comment