Consumer Watchdog’s President and Chairman of the Board is an award-winning and nationally recognized consumer advocate. Capitol Weekly, naming Jamie to its “Top 100” list of unelected movers and shakers in California politics, wrote, “Court has made a career of battling all comers in the interest of the public, and his take-no-prisoners approach has earned him plenty of enemies.”
Jamie’s latest book is The Progressive’s Guide To Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws And Get The Change You Voted For (Chelsea Green, 2010). “Americans angry about the state of their government might find in Court’s persuasive manifesto a cause for action,” Publishers Weekly writes. “With great accessibility and a fired-up attitude, Court brings his lessons in empowerment to the people.” He is also the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Freedom And What You Can Do About It (Tarcher Putnam, 2003) and co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat To Your Health (Common Courage Press, 1999).
Jamie has led dozens of major corporate and political campaigns to reform insurers, banks, technology companies, oil companies, utilities and political practices. He helped to pioneer the HMO patients’ rights movement in the United States, sponsoring successful laws in California and aiding them elsewhere, and was an early champion of many of the most important consumer protections in the federal Affordable Care Act years before they were enacted. He authored the health insurance rate regulation reform Proposition 45 on the November 2014 California ballot.
A frequent media commentator and op-ed contributor, Jamie is a high-profile and stalwart defender of consumers’ rights. The Los Angeles Times calls him “a tireless consumer advocate.” The Wall Street Journal writes, “He’s notorious for his dramatic, sharp-tongued attacks on the health- and auto-insurance industries, and on any politician who takes their campaign cash.”
His public interest career began as an advocate for the homeless and as a community organizer. Jamie’s Alma mater is Pomona College, where he graduated with a BA in History in 1989.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Mercury News Asked To Alert Subscribers to Dirty Trick By Prop 33 Backers; Paid E-mail Advertisement Looks Like Mercury News Endorses...
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog Campaign today called upon the publisher of the San Jose Mercury News to send an email to subscribers correcting the record on a misleading paid advertisement sent out by email over the weekend which made it appear that the newspaper editorialized for Prop 33 when in fact it came out against it.
EPA Caught Hyundai Overstating Mileage, Following Consumer Watchdog Complaint
Washington, DC -- Consumer Watchdog today praised the Environmental Protection Agency for auditing Hyundai and determining it overstated its sticker mileage estimates on various vehicles, including the Elantra.
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Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Ca. Dept. of Insurance Caught Prop 33 Backer Mercury Insurance Discriminating Against Members of the Military
Santa Monica, CA -- Consumer advocates today produced evidence that Mercury Insurance company, the backer of Prop 33, discriminated against members of the military by overcharging or refusing to sell them auto and homeowners insurance policies.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Insurance Billionaire Admits Prop 33 Aims To Raise Rates on Drivers
Santa Monica, CA – The insurance billionaire who has spent $16.5 million on Prop 33 finally admitted in a Sunday Los Angeles Times column by Mike Hiltzik that he is financing the initiative so he can raise car insurance rates on newly insured customers.
Will Gas Prices Continue To Keep Californians Over A Barrel?
Californians finally saw $5 per gallon at their pumps last week. Unfortunately, it's not likely to be the last time.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Prop 33 TV Ads Caught In Big Lie: Paid Spokespeople Pose As “Real Driversâ€
Santa Monica, CA -- Consumer Watchdog Campaign today released a video showing that two paid employees of the insurance-backed Prop 33 campaign are posing as “real drivers” in a huge TV ad buy now airing statewide.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: California Editorial Pages Recommend “No on Prop 33,†Expose Lies of Insurance Industry-Backed Prop 33 Campaign
Santa Monica CA -- Three of California’s largest newspapers issued No on Proposition 33 endorsements this weekend, repudiating the false claims about the initiative made in campaign materials and deceptive advertisements now running across the state. Prop 33 would allow insurance companies to increase prices on good drivers who have a lapse in their insurance coverage, even if they dropped their insurance