The performer-fines provision was in a version of the legislation that passed in the Senate Commerce Committee in early 2004, shortly after the infamous Janet Jackson incident during the Super Bowl halftime show.
British banks alone have set aside an estimated £30bn for fines, provisions and litigation costs.
It was an everyday kind of quarter for HSBC: superficially healthy earnings were undermined by a $1.6bn charge to cover a long list of fines, provisions and compensation bills.
It was an everyday kind of quarter for HSBC: superficially healthy earnings were undermined by a $1.6bn£1bnbn) charge to cover a long list of fines, provisions and compensation bills.
"While those with money can secure the finest legal provision in the world, the reality in our courts for many of our citizens is that the justice system is failing them, badly".
"While those with money can secure the finest legal provision in the world, the reality in our courts for many of our citizens is that the justice system is failing them – badly," Mr Gove will say in a speech in London.
These fine print provisions often also bar students from joining class action lawsuits or otherwise combining their claims with other students, thus making it harder to find a lawyer with enough financial incentive to take a case.
In their letter to Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell, the senators note that many for-profit colleges, and almost no non-profit colleges, use enrollment agreements containing mandatory arbitration clauses -- fine print provisions that require students to pursue any legal claims against their schools before a private arbitrator, rather than in a courtroom.
Research led by academic Roger McCormick at the CCP Research Foundation shows 10 large banks, including RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group, incurred £166.63bn in fines and provisions between 2009 and 2013.
A week of settlements, fines and provisions by big banks in Europe and America underscores just how ready authorities are to raise the whip hand and how quick banks are to pay up rather than go to court.
