Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-mwx4w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T05:06:29.947Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Privatization of Public Legal Rights: How Manufacturers Construct the Meaning of Consumer Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Shauhin A. Talesh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article demonstrates how the content and meaning of California's consumer protection laws were shaped by automobile manufacturers, the very group these laws were designed to regulate. My analysis draws on and links two literatures that examine the relationship between law and organizations but often overlook one another: political science studies of how businesses influence public legal institutions, and neo-institutional sociology studies of how organizations shape law within their organizational field. By integrating these literatures, I develop an “institutional-political” theory that demonstrates how organizations' construction of law and compliance within an organizational field shapes the meaning of law among legislators and judges. This study examines case law and more than 35 years of California legislative history concerning its consumer warranty laws. Using institutional and political analysis, I show how auto manufacturers, who were initially subject to powerful consumer protection laws, weakened the impact of these laws by creating dispute resolution venues. The legislature and courts subsequently incorporated private dispute resolution venues into statutes and court decisions and made consumer rights and remedies largely contingent on consumers first using manufacturer-sponsored venues. Organizational venue creation resulted in public legal rights being redefined and controlled by private organizations.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 527 - 562
Copyright
© 2009 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this article won the American Sociological Association Best Graduate Student Paper in 2008, Sociology of Law Section, and the American Political Science Association Congressional Quarterly Press Award for Best Graduate Student Paper in 2007, Law & Courts Section. I would like to especially thank Lauren Edelman for providing thoughtful feedback on many drafts. Thanks also to Catherine Albiston, Jeb Barnes, Tom Burke, Sean Farhang, Malcolm Feeley, Stefanie Frame, Kaaryn Gustafson, Jacob Hacker, Bob Kagan, Kristin Luker, Stewart Macaulay, Michael McCann, Ted Mermin, Paul Pierson, Eric Schickler, Martin Shapiro, Jonathan Simon, LSR General Editor Carroll Seron, and the anonymous LSR reviewers for helpful suggestions on earlier drafts. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2008 and 2009 meetings of the Law & Society Association and the 2008 Empirical Legal Studies Conference. Financial support for this project was provided for by the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley.

References

References

Abel, Richard (1982) The Politics of Informal Justice. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Albiston, Catherine (1999) “The Rule of Law and the Litigation Process: The Paradox of Losing by Winning,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 869–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albiston, Catherine (2005) “Bargaining in the Shadow of the Social Institutions: Competing Discourses and Social Change in Workplace Mobilization of Civil Rights,” 39 Law & Society Rev. 11–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreason, Alan R., & Best, Arthur (1977) “Consumer Response to Unsatisfactory Purchases: A Survey of Perceiving Defects, Voicing Complaints, and Obtaining Redress,” 11 Law & Society Rev. 701–42.Google Scholar
Ayres, Ian, & Braithwaite, John (1991) “Tripartism: Regulatory Capture and Empowerment,” 16 Law & Social Inquiry 435–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Ian (1992) Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Bardach, Eugene, & Kagan, Robert A. (1982) Going by the Book: The Problem of Regulatory Unreasonableness. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, Jeb (2007) “Rethinking the Landscape of Tort Reform: Legislative Inertia and Court-Based Tort Reform in the Case of Asbestos,” 28 Justice Systems J. 157–81.Google Scholar
Barnes, Jeb (2008) “Courts and the Puzzle of Institutional Stability and Change—Administrative Drift and Judicial Innovation in the Case of Asbestos,” 61 Political Research Q. 636–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, Jeb, & Burke, Tom (2006) “The Diffusion of Rights: From Law on the Books to Organizational Rights Practices,” 40 Law & Society Rev. 493–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., & Jones, Bryan D. (1993) Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, Andrew, & Elman, Colin (2006) “Qualitative Research: Recent Developments in Case Study Methods,” 9 Annual Rev. Political Science 455–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Marver H. (1955) Regulating Business by Independent Commission. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, Arthur, & Brown, Bernard (1977) “Governmental Facilitation of Consumerism: A Proposal for Consumer Action Groups,” 50 Temple Law Q. 253–319.Google Scholar
Brady, Henry, & Collier, David, eds. (2004) Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberle W. (1988) “Race, Reform and Retrenchment: Transformation & Legitimation in Anti-Discrimination Law,” 101 Harvard Law Rev. 1331–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delgado, Richard (1988) “ADR and the Dispossessed: Recent Books About the Deformalization Movement,” 13 Law & Social Inquiry 145–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delgado, Richard, et al. (1985) “Fairness and Formality: Minimizing the Risk of Prejudice in Alternative Dispute Resolution,” 1985 Wisconsin Law Rev. 1359–1404.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul J., & Powell, Walter W. (1983) “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields,” 48 American Sociological Rev. 147–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobbin, Frank, & Sutton, John (1998) “The Strength of a Weak State: The Employment Rights Revolution and the Rise of Human Resources Management Divisions,” 104 American J. of Sociology 441–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobbin, Frank, et al. (1993) “Equal Employment Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets,” 99 American J. of Sociology 396–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (1990) “Legal Environments and Organizational Governance: The Expansion of Due Process in the American Workplace,” 95 American J. of Sociology 1401–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (1992) “Legal Ambiguity and Symbolic Structures: Organizational Mediation of Civil Rights Law,” 97 American J. of Sociology 1531–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2002) “Legality and the Endogeneity of Law,” in Kagan, R. et al., eds., Legality and Community. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2005) “The Endogeneity of Law: Civil Rights at Work,” in Nelson, R. & Nielson, L., eds., Handbook on Employment Discrimination Research: Rights and Realities. Kluwer Academic Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2007) “Overlapping Fields and Constructed Legalities: The Endogeneity of Law,” in O'Brien, Justin, ed., Private Equity, Corporate Governance and the Dynamics of Capital Market Regulation. London: Imperial College Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Stryker, Robin (2005) “A Sociological Approach to Law and the Economy,” in Smelser, N. & Swedberg, R., eds., The Handbook of Economic Sociology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Suchman, Mark C. (1999) “When the ‘Haves’ Hold Court: Speculations on the Organizational Internalization of Law,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 941–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2007) “Introduction: The Interplay of Law and Organizations,” in Edelman, L. & Suchman, M., eds., The Legal Lives of Private Organizations. Dartmouth, UK: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (1992) “Professional Construction of the Legal Environment: The Inflated Threat of Wrongful Discharge Doctrine,” 26 Law & Society Rev. 47–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (1993) “‘Employers’ Handling of Discrimination Complaints: The Transformation of Rights in the Workplace,” 27 Law & Society Rev. 497–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (1999) “The Endogeneity of Legal Regulation: Grievance Procedures as Rational Myth,” 105 American J. of Sociology 406–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (2001) “Diversity Rhetoric and the Managerialization of Law,” 106 American J. of Sociology 1589–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erlanger, Howard S., et al. (1987) “Participation and Flexibility in Informal Processes: Cautions from the Divorce Context,” 21 Law & Society Rev. 585–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewick, Patricia, & Silbey, Susan S. (1998) The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, Jody (2000) “The Private Role in Public Governance,” 75 New York Univ. Law Rev. 543–675.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc (1974) “Why the ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change,” 9 Law & Society Rev. 95–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanter, Marc, & Lande, John (1992) “Private Courts and Public Authority,” 12 Studies in Law, Politics, & Society 393–415.Google Scholar
George, Alexander, & Bennett, Andrew (2005) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gormley, William (1983) The Politics of Public Utility Regulation. Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob (2002) The Divided Welfare State: The Battle of Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, Jacob (2004) “Privatizing Risk Without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Retrenchment in the United States,” 98 American Political Science Rev. 243–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, Jacob, & Pierson, Paul (2002) “Business Power and Social Policy: Employers and the Formation of the American Welfare State,” 30 Politics & Society 277–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, Christine B. (1985) Shadow Justice: The Ideology and Institutionalization of Alternatives to Court. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.Google Scholar
Hawkins, Keith (1983) “Bargain and Bluff: Compliance Strategy and Deterrence in the Enforcement of Regulation,” 5 Law & Policy Q. 35–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heimer, Carol (1999) “Competing Institutions: Law, Medicine, and Family in Neonatal Intensive Care,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 17–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herring, Pendleton (1936) Public Administration and the Public Interest. New York: McGraw-Hill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. (1952) “The Marasmus of the ICC,” 61 Yale Law J. 467–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, Robert A., et al. (2003) “Explaining Corporate Environmental Performance: How Does Regulation Matter?,” 37 Law & Society Rev. 51–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamieniecka, Sheldon (2006) Corporate America and Environmental Policy: How Does Business Get Its Way? Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, John (1984) Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, 2d ed. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Kolko, Gabriel (1965) Railroads and Regulation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Krawiec, Kimberly (2003) “Cosmetic Compliance and the Failure of Negotiated Governance,” 81 Washington Univ. Law Rev. 487–523.Google Scholar
Leech, Beth L., et al. (2002) “Organized Interests and Issue Definition in Policy Debates,” in Cigler, A. & Loomis, B., eds., Interest Group Politics. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Lobel, Orly (2004) “The Renew Deal: The Fall of Regulation and the Rise of Governance in Contemporary Legal Thought,” 89 Minnesota Law Rev. 342–470.Google Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1965) “Changing a Continuing Relationship Between a Large Corporation and Those Who Deal With It: Automobile Manufacturers, Their Dealers, and the Legal System, Law & Society,” 483 Wisconsin Law Rev. 3–212.Google Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1979) “Lawyers and Consumer Protection Laws,” 14 Law & Society Rev. 115–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1986) “Private Government,” in Lipson, L. & Wheeler, S., eds., Law & the Social Sciences. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1991) “Long-Term Continuing Relations: The American Experience Regulating Dealerships and Franchises,” in Joerges, C., ed., Franchising and the Law: Theoretical and Comparative Approaches in Europe and the United States. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellshaft.Google Scholar
Meyer, John W., & Rowan, Brian (1977) “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony,” 83 American J. of Sociology 340–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minow, Martha (1987) “Interpreting Rights: An Essay for Robert Cover,” 96 Yale Law Rev. 1860–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Justin (2007) “The Dynamics of Capital Markets Governance,” in O'Brien, J., ed., Private Equity, Corporate Governance & the Dynamics of Capital Market Regulation. London: Imperial College Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, Jeffrey, & Salancik, Gerald R. (1978) The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul (2000a) “The Limits of Design: Explaining Institutional Origins and Change,” 13 Governance 475–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul (2000b) “Path Dependence, Increasing Returns, and the Study of Politics,” 94 American Political Science Rev. 251–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul (2004) Politics in Time: History, Institutions and Social Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1974) “Theories of Economic Regulation,” 5 Bell J. of Economics and Management Science 337–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pralle, Sarah (2003) “Venue Shopping, Political Strategy, and Policy Change: The Internationalization of Canadian Forestry Advocacy,” 23 J. of Public Policy 233–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pralle, Sarah (2006) “The ‘Mouse that Roared’: Agenda Setting in Canadian Pesticides Politics,” 34 Policy Studies J. 171–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Paul J. (1981) Industry Influence in Federal Regulatory Agencies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, William H. (1996) The Strategy of Rhetoric: Campaigning for the American Constitution. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Gerald (1991) The Hollow Hope. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A. (1975) “Social Movements and Regulatory Agencies,” 6 Policy Sciences 301–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabatier, Paul, & Jenkins-Smith, Hank, eds. (1999) “The Advocacy Coalition Framework: An Assessment,” in Sabatier, P., ed., Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Scheingold, Stuart A. (1974) The Politics of Rights. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Schickler, Eric (2001) Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the United States Congress. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Schneiberg, Marc (2005) “Combining New Institutionalisms: Explaining Institutional Change in American Property Insurance,” 20 Sociological Forum 93–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneiberg, Marc, & Bartley, Tim (2001) “Regulating American Industries: Markets, Politics and the Institutional Determinants of Fire Insurance Regulation,” 107 American J. of Sociology 101–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, Richard W. (1983) “The Organization of Environments: Networks, Cultural & Historical Elements,” in Meyer, J. & Scott, R., eds., Organizational Environment: Ritual & Rationality. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Scott, Richard W., & Davis, Gerald F. (2007) Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems Perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Martin (1988) Who Guards the Guardians? Athens, GA: Univ. of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Short, Jodi L. (2006) “Creating Peer Sexual Harassment: Mobilizing Schools to Throw the Book at Themselves,” 28 Law & Policy 31–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silbey, Susan, & Sarat, Austin (1989) “Dispute Processing in Law and Legal Scholarship: From Institutional Critique to the Reconstruction of the Juridical Subject,” 66 Denver Univ. Law Rev. 437–98.Google Scholar
Snow, David, et al. (1986) “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation,” 51 American Sociological Rev. 464–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigler, George J. (1971) “The Theory of Economic Regulation,” 2 Bell J. of Economics and Management Science 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang, & Thelan, Kathleen (2004) “Introduction: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies,” in Streeck, W. & Thelan, K., eds., Beyond Continuity. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Suchman, Mark, & Edelman, Lauren B. (1996) “Legal-Rational Myths: Lesson for the New Institutionalism from the Law and Society Tradition,” 21 Law & Social Inquiry 903–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, John, et al. (1994) “The Legalization of the Workplace,” 99 American J. of Sociology 944–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelan, Kathleen (1999) “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics,” 2 Annual Rev. Political Science 369–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelan, Kathleen (2004) How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trubek, David, & Bourgognie, Thierry (1987) Consumer Law, Common Markets, & Federalism. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Trubek, David, et al. (1979) “Market Discrimination and the Impact of Consumer Disclosure Laws: The Used Car Industry,” 13 Law & Society Rev. 695–720.Google Scholar
Tushnet, Mark V. (1984) “An Essay on Rights,” 62 Texas Law Rev. 1363–403.Google Scholar
Vaughn, Diane (1998) “Rational Choice, Situated Action, and the Social Control of Organizations,” 32 Law & Society Rev. 23–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, Oliver E. (1975) Markets and Hierarchies. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. (1989) The Politics of Regulation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Kwan v. Mercedes-Benz of North America, 23 Cal. App. 4th 174 (Cal. App. 1994).Google Scholar
Jernigan v. Ford Motor Co., 24 Cal. App. 4th 488 (Cal. App. 1994).Google Scholar
Suman v. BMW of North America, 23 Cal. App. 4th 1 (Cal. App. 1994).Google Scholar
Suman v. Sup. Ct. (BMW of North America), 39 Cal. App. 4th 1309 (Cal. App. 1995).Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

California Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, § 1790 et seq. (1970).Google Scholar
California Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, § 1793.2 (1970).Google Scholar
California Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, §§ 1794(c) & (e) (1970).Google Scholar
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. 6801 et seq. Pub. L No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (1999).Google Scholar
Magnuson-Moss Warranty and Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, 15 U.S.C. 2301 et seq. Pub L. No. 93-637 (1975).Google Scholar
Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 15 U.S.C. 7201, Pub. L No. 107-204, 116 Stat 745 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner Consumer Protection Act, § 1793.22 (1982).Google Scholar

Legislative History (from California State Archives)

California Statute 1970, chapter 1333, SB 272.Google Scholar
California Statute 1971, chapter 1523, SB 742.Google Scholar
California Statute 1972, chapter 1293, SB 685.Google Scholar
California Statute 1976, chapter 416, SB 568.Google Scholar
California Statute 1978, chapter 991, AB 3374.Google Scholar
California Statute 1980, chapter 394, AB 2263.Google Scholar
California Statute 1981, chapter 150, SB 282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
California Statute 1982, chapter 381, AB 3561.Google Scholar
California Statute 1982, chapter 388, AB 1787.Google Scholar
California Statute 1986, chapter 547, AB 3835.Google Scholar
California Statute 1986, chapter 547, AB 3835.Google Scholar
California Statute 1987, chapter 1280, AB 2057.Google Scholar
California Statute 1988, chapter 697, AB 4513.Google Scholar
California Statute 1989, chapter 193, AB 1104.Google Scholar
California Statute 1991, chapter 689, AB 211.Google Scholar
California Statute 1992, chapter 1232, SB 1762.Google Scholar
California Statute 2002, chapter 306, SB 1765.Google Scholar

Regulation Cited

Magnuson-Moss Federal Trade Commission Act, FTC Rule 703.Google Scholar