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1 Loy. Consumer L. Rep. 1 (1988-1989)

handle is hein.journals/lyclr1 and id is 1 raw text is: LOYOLA CONSUMER LAW REPORTER Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, One E. Pearson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611 Volume 1, No. 1 / Fall, 1988 Alternative Dispute Resolution and Consumer Protection: An Odd-Couple Thriving in the Offices of State Attorneys General John W. Cooley* Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and consumer protection are an odd-couple. ADR elicits images of peacemaking while consumer protection evokes thoughts of rigorous govern- mental regulation and aggressive law enforce- ment on behalf of the consuming public. Both ADR and consumer protection have had a roller-coaster history of application in the United States. The emergence of each as a concept with significant social impact has been cyclical, and, historically, their respective cycles have been out of sync. Only in the last twenty years have their cycles been merged successfully in the public's interest. Surprisingly, this has occurred where one might least expect-in the law en- forcement activities of the state attorneys gena eral. This article- will briefly examine 1) the nature of ADR and consumer protection, 2) the cyclical history of ADR and consumer protec- tion and their recent synchronization, and 3) the operation of ADR programs in consumer pro- tection divisions of several representative state attorneys general offices. (continued on page 2) Former Assistant United States Attorney, United States Magistrate, and Senior Staff Attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. John W Cooley is currently Chairman of the Chicago Bar Association's Arbitration and ADR Committee. In pri- vate practice in Chicago, he serves as a mediator arbitrator, and consultant in dispute resolution. A Dooley Scholar at Loyola Univer- sity of Chicago School of Law, he has co-designed and co-taught an innovative course on Alternatives to Litigation. In the past, he served as a consultant to the Illinois Attorney General's Office with regard to the Consumer Complaint Mediation Program of its Consumer Pro- tection Division. A New Consumer Remedy: Product Recall Frank M. Covey, Jr.* Bruce H. Schoumacher** Scope of the Problem One of the principal focuses of the American tort law system is the two-pronged objective of discouraging the marketing of unsafe, danger- ous, or defective products' and, where that is not accomplished, compensating those injured by or because of such products.2 Until recently, the law has devoted little or no effort to getting products that have proved unsafe, dangerous or defective out of the homes, schools and play- grounds of consumers. For the purposes of this article, it is immaterial whether the product was (a) defectively de- signed or manufactured, or (b) considered to be safe and beneficial to consumers when manu- factured and distributed, but later determined to be dangerous.3 Once such products are placed in the chain of distribution, whether (continued on page 4) *Visiting Professor of Law, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law; Of Counsel, McDermott, Will & Emery; B.S., Honors; J.D., cum laude, Loyola University of Chicago; S.).D., University of Wisconsin- Madison. Partner, McDermott, Will & Emery; B.S., Northwestern University; M.B.A., J.D., University of Chicago.

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