In the last three months three significant books have been published on the fine print in standard form contracts. 

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Cay Johnston has written The Fine Print, How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind (published by the Penguin Group);

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>New York University Law Professor Oren-Bar Gill has written Seduction by Contract:  Law, Economics and Psychology in Consumer Markets (Oxford University Press); and

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>University of Michigan Law Professor Margaret Jane Radin, has written Boilerplate, The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (Princeton University Press).

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>These books look, with varied lenses, at a problem we all face:  Contract law holds consumers responsible for reading and knowing what is in pages upon pages of fine print disclosures when we click “I agree” or sign on the dotted line. 

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>And yet, as we all know, virtually no one ever reads these mice-font monstrosities, much less understands them. 

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"”>But what lurks there in the fine print can and does affect our rights and pocketbooks across an array of industries, including cell phones, bank accounts, mortgages, cable/Internet services, gift cards, rental cars, software, insurance of all kinds— even birthday parties or field trips for children where parents sign a waiver.  David Cay Johnston estimates in his book that this fine print abuse costs an average family of four about $2,390 per year!  That’s billions nationwide.