WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court said Friday it will review whether some similar claims that are settled by arbitration can be bundled together as a class action case, as was done with $27 million in claims against a mobile home financing firm. Arbitration clauses are increasingly common in a variety of consumer and financial settings, including credit card and loan agreements. The case arose from successful claims filed by 3,700 South Carolina residnets who agreed to settle any disputes by arbitration, not lawsuit, when they took out loans for home improvement or to buy mobile homes. Conseco Finance, then known as Green Tree Financial Corp., fought the arbitration awards on the grounds that the borrowers' agreements did not explicitly provide for treatment as a class action. The case is Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 02-634.
