Elena Kagan in Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich

On Corporations: Disallow monopolies from disadvantaging small business

When the owner of a small restaurant, Italian Colors, located in Oakland, California, accused American Express of abusing its monopoly power by imposing unreasonable rates on the restaurant, American Express responded that such a claim was prohibited by the mandatory arbitration clause in the contract Italian Colors had signed with it. The case went to the Supreme Court, and in 2013 a majority of the court (including all of the court's Republican appointees) agreed with American Express. But as Justice Elena Kagan argued in dissent, the court's decision puts small businesses in an impossible bind and gives large monopolists an easy way out. "The monopolist gets to use its monopoly power to insist on a contract effectively depriving its victims of all legal recourse." Source: Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich, p. 55-6 May 3, 2016

The above quotations are from Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich. Click here for other excerpts from Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich. Click here for other excerpts by Elena Kagan. Click here for a profile of Elena Kagan.
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Page last updated: May 03, 2021