Jamie Court
Encyclopedia
Jamie Court is an American
author
, political activist, lobbyist and consumer advocate
. He serves as president of Consumer Watchdog
, a nationally recognized, nonpartisan
, nonprofit public interest group
.
Court helped pioneer the HMO patients' rights movement in the United States
. He has also led campaigns to reform insurers, politicians, bank
s, oil companies and utilities. The Los Angeles Times
dubbed Court "a tireless consumer advocate."
Court is the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom and the co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs And The Threat To Your Health. His newest book, The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns and Get the Change You Voted For was released September 15, 2010.
Court is also a regular Los Angeles Times
op-ed
contributor and a commentator on National Public Radio's Marketplace
.
, Court attended Pomona College
in Claremont, California
and earned a degree in history
. Upon graduation in 1989, Court canvassed door-to-door to raise money for the enforcement of insurance reform ballot initiative California Proposition 103
, which passed on November 8, 1988.
From 1990 to 1994, in the wake of President Clinton's
welfare reform plan, Court worked as a homeless advocate and community organizer for an interfaith lobbying group called JERICHO and as the associate director of Harbor Interfaith Shelter.
During this period, Court began pioneering the unusual activism tactics he became known for later in life. For example, in an effort to save public assistance programs in Los Angeles County, Court bussed hundreds of homeless people from skid row and signed each of them up for the two minute public comment, required by law, to talk about their plight and how the city's cuts would affect them.
, to build Consumer Watchdog
then known as the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. Consumer Watchdog named Court president of the organization in 2003.
, Court and his team placed a red herring
on the table to signify that the proposed HMO reform was a deliberate attempt to divert attention.
He also created a daily "HMO casualty of the day," where he faxed patient faces and stories to lawmakers to show how HMOs were hurting citizens of the state.
Court's pioneering work for HMO patients' rights made Consumer Watchdog a national voice in the HMO reform debate. In 1996, Court worked with Rosenfield and the California Nurses Association to have a first patients' bill of rights proposition placed on the California ballot. However, Proposition 216 failed to pass garnering only 38.7% of the vote.
In 1998, Consumer Watchdog advocated for legislation, ultimately signed into law by California Governor Gray Davis, to extend broad need rights to HMO patients. To bring attention to the issue, Court dumped a truck load of pinto beans at an HMO industry conference to point out Consumer Watchdog's opposition to HMO "bean counters" overriding doctors' decisions. Most of the legislative package passed with the help of the California Nurses Association in November 1998.
After California had the strongest HMO patient protection laws in America. Many of the provisions of California's bill were included in the national U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights
Act, which passed Congress in 2001.
privacy legislation in 2002. The legislation, which required consumers to opt in before financial services companies shared their personal information with other companies, had public support, but lawmakers wouldn’t move it forward. Court wanted to expose how much personal information was for sale on the Internet
for a relatively cheap price. To prove his point, Court published the partial social security numbers legislators opposed to financial privacy on his website. As a result of his tactics, and the signature gathering help of e-loan's
Chris Larsen
, Governor Davis signed the "country's toughest financial privacy legislation."
ties to special interests. Consumer Watchdog also targeted four Schwarzenegger-backed proposition on the ballot in a special election in 2005. Specifically, Proposition 74, which would have lengthened the time it takes for teachers to get tenure, Proposition 75, which would have limited public employee unions' political spending, Proposition 76, which would have limited California's spending and Proposition 77, which would have removed lawmakers ability to redistrict the state. Consumer Watchdog's grassroots efforts lead to the defeat of the propositions and changed Schwarzenegger's governorship.
to repeal a key provision of Proposition 103. Consumer Watchdog and its sister organization the Campaign for Consumer Rights "argued that the measure would have allowed Mercury and other companies to impose surcharges of as much as $1,000 on drivers who have not had continuous coverage." To raise awareness of the fact that an insurance company was trying to hide its sponsorship of Proposition 17, and its CEO was afraid to debate the merits of the proposal in public, the group sent a man in a chicken suit to legislative hearings on the measure. The group was outspent 12-to-1, but the measure was defeated on June 8, 2010.
on Consumer Watchdog's Inside Google project. Funded by the Rose Foundation, Inside Google's goal is to educate the general public "about the need for greater online privacy, and to hold Google accountable for tracking consumers online without explicit permission and for exhibiting its monopolistic power in dangerous ways."
In 2010, to bring attention to Google's privacy issues, Consumer Watchdog checked networks in California Representative Jane Harman's
home to see if her unencrypted Wi-Fi
network might have been tapped when the company captured images for the Google Streetview service of Google Maps
.
Also in 2010, the group created a cartoon video of Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an ice-cream truck driver interested in gathering data about the children on his route. The video aired in Times Square and received media attention.
Because of Consumer Watchdog's work, Google
allegedly tried to influence the Rose Foundation to halt funding for Inside Google.
called the book "a gripping story of excessive power without restraint that comes down hard on powerless and defenseless people.
with two young children.
Harvey Rosenfield
John M. Simpson
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, political activist, lobbyist and consumer advocate
Consumer protection
Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
. He serves as president of Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog is a division of Business & Enterprise Solutions Botswana Ltd, a privately owned company registered in Botswana and based in Gaborone....
, a nationally recognized, nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
, nonprofit public interest group
Public interest
The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself...
.
Court helped pioneer the HMO patients' rights movement in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He has also led campaigns to reform insurers, politicians, bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s, oil companies and utilities. The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
dubbed Court "a tireless consumer advocate."
Court is the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom and the co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs And The Threat To Your Health. His newest book, The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns and Get the Change You Voted For was released September 15, 2010.
Court is also a regular Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
contributor and a commentator on National Public Radio's Marketplace
Marketplace (radio program)
Marketplace is a radio program that focuses on business, the economy, and events that influence them. Hosted by Kai Ryssdal, the show is produced and distributed by American Public Media, in association with the University of Southern California...
.
Early career and education
Originally from Suffern, New YorkSuffern, New York
Suffern is a village in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the State of New Jersey; east of Hillburn; south of Montebello and west of Airmont...
, Court attended Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
and earned a degree in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. Upon graduation in 1989, Court canvassed door-to-door to raise money for the enforcement of insurance reform ballot initiative California Proposition 103
California Department of Insurance
The California Department of Insurance , established in 1868, is the agency charged with overseeing the regulation of insurance regulations, enforcing statutes mandating consumer protections, educating consumers, and fostering the stability of insurance markets in the state of California...
, which passed on November 8, 1988.
From 1990 to 1994, in the wake of President Clinton's
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
welfare reform plan, Court worked as a homeless advocate and community organizer for an interfaith lobbying group called JERICHO and as the associate director of Harbor Interfaith Shelter.
During this period, Court began pioneering the unusual activism tactics he became known for later in life. For example, in an effort to save public assistance programs in Los Angeles County, Court bussed hundreds of homeless people from skid row and signed each of them up for the two minute public comment, required by law, to talk about their plight and how the city's cuts would affect them.
Consumer Watchdog
In 1994, Court joined fellow consumer activist and Proposition 103 author, Harvey RosenfieldHarvey Rosenfield
Harvey Rosenfield is an American lawyer, author and consumer advocate. In 1985, he founded Consumer Watchdog, a nationally recognized, nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group. He now serves as the group's counsel....
, to build Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog is a division of Business & Enterprise Solutions Botswana Ltd, a privately owned company registered in Botswana and based in Gaborone....
then known as the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. Consumer Watchdog named Court president of the organization in 2003.
HMO Patients' Rights
Court began his career at Consumer Watchdog as the head of Californians for Quality Care, working to reform the HMO system in the state. Here his theatrical style of muckraking matured. For example, during a legislative meeting in SacramentoSacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
, Court and his team placed a red herring
Red herring
A red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert attention.Red herring may refer to:* Red herring , the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
on the table to signify that the proposed HMO reform was a deliberate attempt to divert attention.
He also created a daily "HMO casualty of the day," where he faxed patient faces and stories to lawmakers to show how HMOs were hurting citizens of the state.
Court's pioneering work for HMO patients' rights made Consumer Watchdog a national voice in the HMO reform debate. In 1996, Court worked with Rosenfield and the California Nurses Association to have a first patients' bill of rights proposition placed on the California ballot. However, Proposition 216 failed to pass garnering only 38.7% of the vote.
In 1998, Consumer Watchdog advocated for legislation, ultimately signed into law by California Governor Gray Davis, to extend broad need rights to HMO patients. To bring attention to the issue, Court dumped a truck load of pinto beans at an HMO industry conference to point out Consumer Watchdog's opposition to HMO "bean counters" overriding doctors' decisions. Most of the legislative package passed with the help of the California Nurses Association in November 1998.
After California had the strongest HMO patient protection laws in America. Many of the provisions of California's bill were included in the national U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights
U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights
A Patient's Bill of Rights is a statement of the rights to which patients are entitled as recipients of medical care. Typically, a statement articulates the positive rights which doctors and hospitals ought to provide patients, thereby providing information, offering fair treatment, and granting...
Act, which passed Congress in 2001.
Financial Privacy
Court fought for financialFINANCIAL
FINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...
privacy legislation in 2002. The legislation, which required consumers to opt in before financial services companies shared their personal information with other companies, had public support, but lawmakers wouldn’t move it forward. Court wanted to expose how much personal information was for sale on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for a relatively cheap price. To prove his point, Court published the partial social security numbers legislators opposed to financial privacy on his website. As a result of his tactics, and the signature gathering help of e-loan's
E-Loan
E-Loan, Inc. is a Rosemont, Illinois-based financial services company that offers savings accounts and certificates of deposit and access to partners that may be able to assist customers in obtaining loans....
Chris Larsen
Chris Larsen
Chris Larsen is the chairman and founder of E-loan and the co-founder of Prosper Marketplace. Larsen received a B.S. degree from San Francisco State University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University. In 1996 Larsen founded the Palo Alto Funding Group which later became E-Loan in 1996...
, Governor Davis signed the "country's toughest financial privacy legislation."
Arnold Watch
In 2003, Court launched Arnold Watch to expose Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger'sArnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
ties to special interests. Consumer Watchdog also targeted four Schwarzenegger-backed proposition on the ballot in a special election in 2005. Specifically, Proposition 74, which would have lengthened the time it takes for teachers to get tenure, Proposition 75, which would have limited public employee unions' political spending, Proposition 76, which would have limited California's spending and Proposition 77, which would have removed lawmakers ability to redistrict the state. Consumer Watchdog's grassroots efforts lead to the defeat of the propositions and changed Schwarzenegger's governorship.
Oil Watchdog
In 2005, Court helped create Oil Watchdog, a subgroup of Consumer Watchdog tasked to "expose about the profiteering, power, and unscrupulous practices of the oil industry." He worked to bring attention to Proposition 87, a "$4 billion program with goal to reduce petroleum consumption by 25%, with research and production incentives for alternative energy, alternative energy vehicles, energy efficient technologies, and for education and training", funded by a "tax of 1.5% to 6% (depending on oil price per barrel) on producers of oil extracted in California." The proposition was voted down by the voters, 54.7% opposed to 45.3% in favor.Insurance Reform
During 2010, Court and his team fought Proposition 17, a $16 million attempt by Mercury Insurance GroupMercury Insurance Group
Mercury Insurance Group is an American automobile and property insurance company founded by George Joseph in 1961. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.-History:...
to repeal a key provision of Proposition 103. Consumer Watchdog and its sister organization the Campaign for Consumer Rights "argued that the measure would have allowed Mercury and other companies to impose surcharges of as much as $1,000 on drivers who have not had continuous coverage." To raise awareness of the fact that an insurance company was trying to hide its sponsorship of Proposition 17, and its CEO was afraid to debate the merits of the proposal in public, the group sent a man in a chicken suit to legislative hearings on the measure. The group was outspent 12-to-1, but the measure was defeated on June 8, 2010.
Inside Google
Court works closely with John SimpsonJohn Simpson (journalist/consumer advocate)
John M. Simpson is an American consumer rights advocate and former journalist. Since 2005, he has worked for Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group, as the lead researcher on Inside Google, the group's effort to educate the public about Google's dominance over the...
on Consumer Watchdog's Inside Google project. Funded by the Rose Foundation, Inside Google's goal is to educate the general public "about the need for greater online privacy, and to hold Google accountable for tracking consumers online without explicit permission and for exhibiting its monopolistic power in dangerous ways."
In 2010, to bring attention to Google's privacy issues, Consumer Watchdog checked networks in California Representative Jane Harman's
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
home to see if her unencrypted Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
network might have been tapped when the company captured images for the Google Streetview service of Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
.
Also in 2010, the group created a cartoon video of Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an ice-cream truck driver interested in gathering data about the children on his route. The video aired in Times Square and received media attention.
Because of Consumer Watchdog's work, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
allegedly tried to influence the Rose Foundation to halt funding for Inside Google.
Making A Killing
Published in 1999 by Common Courage Press, Court, with co-author Francis Smith, wrote Making a Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health. The book presents case histories of Americans who have been hurt by the HMO industry. As well, the book suggests ways the HMO system could be more beneficial to consumers. Ralph NaderRalph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
called the book "a gripping story of excessive power without restraint that comes down hard on powerless and defenseless people.
Corporateering
Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom…And What You Can Do About It was published by Tarcher Putnam in 2003. The book's premise is that corporations rob consumers of personal freedoms. Court outlines strategies to reverse the damage. The Associated Press called the book "A thought-provoking look at the condition of American society."The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell
Court's newest book, The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell: How to Wage Winning Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws and Get the Change We Vote For was released September 15, 2010 by Chelsea Green Publishing.Awards
- Civil Justice Foundation Champion of Justice
- Consumer Attorneys of California Consumer Advocate of the Year
- California Nurses Association Social and Political Activist of the Year
- Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles Consumer Educator of the Year
- Los Angeles Business Journal's Who’s Who Of Health Care
Personal
Court is married to a civil rights attorney. The couple live in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with two young children.
See also
Consumer WatchdogConsumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdog is a division of Business & Enterprise Solutions Botswana Ltd, a privately owned company registered in Botswana and based in Gaborone....
Harvey Rosenfield
Harvey Rosenfield
Harvey Rosenfield is an American lawyer, author and consumer advocate. In 1985, he founded Consumer Watchdog, a nationally recognized, nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group. He now serves as the group's counsel....
John M. Simpson
John Simpson (journalist/consumer advocate)
John M. Simpson is an American consumer rights advocate and former journalist. Since 2005, he has worked for Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group, as the lead researcher on Inside Google, the group's effort to educate the public about Google's dominance over the...
External links
- http://www.consumerwatchdog.org - Consumer Watchdog official website
- http://www.insidegoogle.org - Inside Google official website
- http://www.makingakilling.org/ - Making a Killing official website
- http://www.corporateering.org/ - Corporateering official website
- http://www.arnoldwatch.org/ - Arnold Watch official website