NACA's mission shall be to promote justice for all consumers by maintaining a forum for communication, networking, and information sharing among consumer advocates across the country, particularly regarding legal issues, and by serving as a voice for its members and consumers in the ongoing struggle to curb unfair or abusive business practices that affect consumers.
On October 13, my old friend, and consumer advocate extraordinaire, Addison Parker was honored at the White House as a "Champion of Change." You can read below, the official "bio" that describes why Add was chosen as an honoree. I can tell you that, unofficially, Add is as final a legal services attorney as I have ever known, and that the number of Kentucky families he has helped are countless. I can also tell you, that sitting in the audience, watching Add being honored was a great thrill for me, particularly when he talked about the great loss of wealth he had seen in his community and how that problem needed to be remedied first, if we wanted a real economic recovery. I fear those are words not often enough expressed in our White House, and I am glad that in is moment honor, Add did just that!
Until his retirement in June 2011, Addison was Co- Litigation Director of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Inc. (“AppalRed”) and Director of AppalRed’s Stop Foreclosure Clinic. He worked for 32 years at AppalRed. Presently, as AppalRed Attorney Emeritus, Addison provides pro bono services to AppalRed and its clients. AppalRed provides free legal assistance to low income persons in 37 counties, located primarily in the Appalachian hill country of Eastern Kentucky. Since 1999, Addison supervised AppalRed’s consumer law practice, foreclosure defense, complex litigation, and appellate work, while maintaining a full case load. For two decades, Addison has been Chairman of the Consumer Law Task Force of Kentucky Legal Services Programs. He was chairman of the Kentucky Bar Association Bankruptcy Section in 2006-07 and has been a speaker on consumer law topics and foreclosure defense at numerous continuing legal education seminars in Kentucky and nationally at seminars and conferences sponsored by AARP, The National Consumer Law Center, and the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
As Director of AppalRed’s Stop Foreclosure Clinic, founded in 2008, Addison trained and supervised AppalRed attorneys and private bar partners to defend judicial foreclosure with consumer-protection based counterclaims and defenses arising from unlawful and deceptive origination practices; disclosure violations; and abusive, deceptive, or negligent loan servicing. Addison received the 2011 Kentucky Justice Association’s Consumer Safety Award for his work with the Stop Foreclosure Clinic.
Written by Ira Rheingold, Executive Director, National Association of Consumer Advocates
Under the guise of job creation, the Wisconsin GOP has clearly visited the American Legislative Exchange Council’s playbook and are pushing a few anti-consumer bills that will further shield corporations from liability for wrong doing.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has called a "Special Jobs Session" to consider a list of bills, including one that appears to be a version of the ALEC "Drug Liability Act" and also twoadditional anti-consumer bills that strike at the heart of the Wisconsin Consumer Protection Statute and will make it harder for consumers to fight corporate malfeasance. ALEC is the corporate-funded national organization that allows Big Business to craft, then vote to approve, "model bills" along with politicians that right-wing legislators then take home and push in their states. The Wisconsin bills, AB 12 and AB 14 are sponsored by Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), who paid his ALEC dues with taxpayer dollars.
Our friends and colleagues in Wisconsin need your help! There are currently two bills moving through the Wisconsin Legislature that, if passed, would undermine the state’s Consumer Protection Statute by shifting the cost of enforcement and remedying important consumer protections from unlawful acts of others to the individual harmed or the state.
Please click through the links here to access talking points about the bills and legislative information on each proposal. BUT most important, here is how you can help:
As previously announced, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the Arbitration Fairness Act next Thursday October 13th at 2pm in Dirksen 226. Democratic witnesses include NACA Member Paul Bland, Minnesota AG Lori Swanson and consumer witness, Dr. Deborah Pierce. Republican Witnesses will include: Christopher Drahozel (click here to see his take on Concepcion and the Arbitration Fairness Act) and Victor Schwartz.
For the past few months NACA and its consumer advocate allies Public Citizen, NELA and AAJ has been working closely with Senator Franken’s staff to ensure that Forced Arbitration does not fall off the radar. In particularly, we have helped with locating and vetting the consumer witness scheduled to appear at this hearing.
Although the current political climate is not ideal, this hearing presents an incredible opportunity to try ramp up the pressure on Congress and let them know exactly what’s at stake here. Leading up to the hearing NACA will be circulating an organizational sign-on letter (earlier version attached) which was previously signed onto by over 50 organizations and its own individual sign on letter. Additionally, we are calling each member office to encourage members to attend. Here’s how you can help:
1. ATTEND – if you are local and will be in the DC area, please come out to the hearing. Already a few NACA members have responded that they will attend and bring clients with them.
2. Take 5 minutes – Call a judiciary committee member and tell them why the Arbitration Fairness Act needs to become law. Let them know that forced arbitration is unfair and undemocratic and that you expect to see them at the hearing on this critical issue. Use the attached talking points to assist you.
a. We particularly need help in the following states - Vermont, Wisconsin, California, New York Illinois, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, Connecticut (states with Democratic Committee members). Though no Democrats on the committee have opposed the bill, a few are reluctant to sign on in support!
b. We won’t win this with just Democratic support alone – republican members need to hear why Forced Arbitration harms consumers and employees. If you have a connection to a senator in one of these states - Iowa, Utah, Arizona, Alabama, S. Carolina, Texas, Utah, Oklahoma – call or email!
3. Take another 5 minutes and tell a colleague or client to do the same!
Thanks sincerely for all that you do every day on behalf of consumers!
Written by Delicia Reynolds, Legislative Director, National Association of Consumer Advocates
One of the great privileges of my job is the chance I get to meet and befriend some of the best consumer advocates in the country. Last month, one of my favorite people in the world, Norman Lau passed away. Norman was an absolutely outstanding advocate, but an even better person. Kind, thoughtful, caring, passionate are just some of the adjectives that come to mind when I think of my friend. Instead of searching for the right words to express both my sadness for our loss, and the joy of having known, Norman, I'm simply going to reprint what our friend, Jeff Crabtree wrote when he let us know that Norman had finally lost his long fight with cancer:
Norman Lau passed away on Saturday. As many of you know, he’d been battling cancer for years. I am sitting in his old office as I write this, and I swear he’s “visiting.” There is a different kind of energy in the air here today--maybe he’s wrapping up some loose ends before he heads off.
I’ll miss Norman Lau. (And believe me, I don’t say that about all the attorneys I know.)... Norman proved you can be a great person and a great lawyer at the same time.
I had the pleasure of working with Norman on several cases. His contribution to those cases proved to me that his reputation is well-deserved. He was knowledgeable, experienced, and had great judgment. He was widely regarded as a top-notch expert in Hawaii on consumer law issues generally, and fair debt collection practice in particular. Whenever I talk with consumer rights lawyers on the mainland, invariably they ask me “Do you know Norman Lau?” ... Norman was the kind of person who always watched out for the modern paradoxes encapsulated by George Carlin below. As a tribute to Norman, I invite everyone to take a moment and reflect:
--Don’t spend more but have less. --Don’t have more conveniences but less time. --Don’t have more knowledge but less judgment. --Don’t make a living, but not a life. --Don’t ignore your neighbors, but e-mail people in Siberia. --Don’t have a tall profile but be short on character. Rest in peace, Norman.
Written by Ira Rheingold, Executive Director, National Association of Consumer Advocates
