Consumer Arbitration Comes to Atlanta
Within the next month , the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Atlanta will initiate a new arbitration program for settling disputes between consumers and merchant arising from the sale of goods or services . The consumer arbitration program is a pioneer among similar programs to be established by the Better Business Bureau across the nation .
A special committee of the Atlanta Bar Association appointed by Byron Attridge , then president of the Atlanta Bar drafted the Atlanta consumer arbitration plan for the Better Business Bureau . Serving on the committee were Chairman Orinda Evans ( Alston Miller & Gaines ), Archer Smith ( Harmon & Smith ), Carey Dedeyn ( Sutherland Asbill & Brennan ), and Clayton Sinclair , Jr . ( Jackson Patterson & Parks ).
The arbitration service is intended to provide a fast , simple and economical means of settling small product or service disputes in cases in which both the consumer and the merchant wish to arbitrate . It will be available to Atlanta consumers at no charge , and will be financially supported by the Better Business Bureau , most of whose member businesses have indicated that they will be willing to arbitrate disputes arising from sales of their products or services . The service is also available to on-member businesses for a small fee .
PHOTO CREDIT : ALAMY
Prepaid Legal Services
Prepaid Legal Services attempts to aid the middle-income class which today cannot afford neces sary legal services to protect their basic rights and privileges . While the affluent have no difficulty in meeting legal expenses and the indigent in our society are now able through efforts of legal aid and publicly funded legal services to obtain free legal rep resentation , the average moder ate wage earner , earning between $ 6,000.00 and $ 15,000.00 a year , too often finds himself in a posi tion where his income exceeds maximum levels which would en title him to free legal aid but is insufficient for him to retain pri vate counsel to represent him .
The question that must concern the members of the Bar is what can be done to assure that every citizen who needs an attorney can be able to obtain one . If moderate- or middleincome individuals are not to be denied their constitutional right to the use of courts or legal assistance , society hopefully working with the Bar , must face up to this prob lem and find a way effectively to respond to it .
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Old War Horses
If you want to know what it was like practicing law during the lean years , you might ask Dean Joseph B . Kilbride ( Woodrow Wilson College of Law ). He once represented a client in the restaurant business . Each day , Dean Kilbride would go to the restaurant for lunch . After lunch , he would sign the ticket and turn it in to the cashier , and this lunch was his retainer fee .
Speaking of lean years , one of the his favorite stories are about a case he handled for a landlord , who was being sued by one his tenants , because some of the plaster from the ceiling fell and hit the tenant in the head while the tenant was lying in bed , causing a slight injury . The landlord , being unable to pay for the cost of a deposition , left Dean Kilbride to handle the case without the benefit of a pre-examination of the plaintiff . After Dean Kilbride inspected the property , he discovered that the plaster fell in the center of the room .
So , when the plaintiff was on the witness stand , Dean Kilbride , feeling that he had discovered a loophole in the case , propounded the following question to the plaintiff , " How could the plaster hit you in the head when it fell in the center of the room ?’ The plaintiff gave the following answer , “ The floor of the room was so badly slanted that I had to keep the head of the bed in the center of the room , in order to keep my head above my feet .” Dean Kilbride lost the case , the jury awarded the plaintiff a judgment in the amount of $ 150 , the case was finally settled for $ 100 .
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