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Arbitration
Commercial Arbitration and Settlement: Empirical Insights into the Roles Arbitrators Play
July 16, 2014
A wide-ranging new Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution Survey of experienced arbitrators, conducted with the cooperation of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, reflects the growing professionalization of commercial arbitration, increasing competition for cases, and many other trends in arbitration practice. It also shows that a grower percentage of arbitrated cases are being settled prior to award or to the start of hearings, and offers a strong rationale for greater emphasis on the role of arbitrators...
July 16, 2014
A wide-ranging new Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution Survey of experienced arbitrators, conducted with the cooperation of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, reflects the growing professionalization of commercial arbitration, increasing competition for cases, and many other trends in arbitration practice. It also shows that a grower percentage of arbitrated cases are being settled prior to award or to the start of hearings, and offers a strong rationale for greater emphasis on the role of arbitrators...
Incorporation of AAA Rules Authorizes Arbitrator To Determine Whether Non-Signatory Can Arbitrate
July 16, 2014
In a short and sweet opinion issued just six weeks after argument, the Eighth Circuit yesterday held that an arbitrator was authorized...
July 16, 2014
In a short and sweet opinion issued just six weeks after argument, the Eighth Circuit yesterday held that an arbitrator was authorized...
California Maintains Some Restrictions On The Waivers Allowable In Employment Arbitration Agreements
July 15, 2014
This week the Supreme Court of California held that the FAA preempts California’s 2007 Gentry ruling, one that protected employees from nearly all class action waivers in arbitration agreements. Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, __ P.3d__, 2014 WL 2808963 (Cal. June 23, 2014). However, asserting its Californian-ness, the court found an clever way of ruling that arbitration agreements in employment contracts may still not waive a particular type of joint action: representative actions brought...
July 15, 2014
This week the Supreme Court of California held that the FAA preempts California’s 2007 Gentry ruling, one that protected employees from nearly all class action waivers in arbitration agreements. Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, __ P.3d__, 2014 WL 2808963 (Cal. June 23, 2014). However, asserting its Californian-ness, the court found an clever way of ruling that arbitration agreements in employment contracts may still not waive a particular type of joint action: representative actions brought...
How Consumers Are Getting Screwed by Court-Enforced Arbitration
July 14, 2014
For more than forty years, the Supreme Court's conservatives have been engaged in a campaign to shut the courthouse door to consumers, working people, small businesses and others seeking redress for corporate wrongdoing. In recent years, and especially since Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito joined the Court, a major weapon in this campaign has been the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) of 1925. The conservatives have used the act to prevent victims of such abuses from...
July 14, 2014
For more than forty years, the Supreme Court's conservatives have been engaged in a campaign to shut the courthouse door to consumers, working people, small businesses and others seeking redress for corporate wrongdoing. In recent years, and especially since Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito joined the Court, a major weapon in this campaign has been the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) of 1925. The conservatives have used the act to prevent victims of such abuses from...
Arbitration: Innovative Problem Solving for Health Care Business Disputes
July 13, 2014
Register for the latest CLE from the American Bar Association Health Law Section. Arbitration: Innovative Problem Solving for Health Care Business Disputes Thursday, July 31, 2014 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Eastern 1.5 CLE Requested Webinar Our team of expert panelists will: Provide innovative techniques for arbitration proceedings Demonstrate "managerial" techniques to avoid the costs and delays associated with traditional litigation Discuss drafting of arbitration clauses that promote...
July 13, 2014
Register for the latest CLE from the American Bar Association Health Law Section. Arbitration: Innovative Problem Solving for Health Care Business Disputes Thursday, July 31, 2014 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Eastern 1.5 CLE Requested Webinar Our team of expert panelists will: Provide innovative techniques for arbitration proceedings Demonstrate "managerial" techniques to avoid the costs and delays associated with traditional litigation Discuss drafting of arbitration clauses that promote...
First Things First: There Must Be An Arbitration Agreement In Order To Compel Arbitration
July 10, 2014
Two courts recently refused to compel arbitration because the defendants could not prove that the parties had entered into...
July 10, 2014
Two courts recently refused to compel arbitration because the defendants could not prove that the parties had entered into...
Unconscionability Still Alive and Well?
July 9, 2014
From BNA Daily Labor Report: “Justices Won’t Review California Ruling on Unconsionability of Wage Hearing Waivers Posted June 09, 2014, 4:01 P.M. ET The U.S. Supreme Court today let stand a California Supreme Court decision that a lower court may consider whether a waiver of any state administrative wage hearing makes an arbitration agreement unconscionable and thus unenforceable, denying an auto dealer’s petition to review the case ( Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, U.S., No. 13-856,...
July 9, 2014
From BNA Daily Labor Report: “Justices Won’t Review California Ruling on Unconsionability of Wage Hearing Waivers Posted June 09, 2014, 4:01 P.M. ET The U.S. Supreme Court today let stand a California Supreme Court decision that a lower court may consider whether a waiver of any state administrative wage hearing makes an arbitration agreement unconscionable and thus unenforceable, denying an auto dealer’s petition to review the case ( Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, U.S., No. 13-856,...
Gilles & Sebok on Crowd-Classing Individual Arbitrations
July 8, 2014
In a new article published as part of DePaul Law School’s excellent annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law & Social Policy, Miriam Gilles and Tony Sebok take up the subject of Crowd-Classing Individual Arbitrations in a Post-Class Action Era. They suggest that enterprising plaintiffs’ attorneys have two potentially viable avenues for making it financially viable to pursue multiple small claims in the teeth of widespread arbitral class waivers. First, arbitration-free plaintiffs could be recruited...
July 8, 2014
In a new article published as part of DePaul Law School’s excellent annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law & Social Policy, Miriam Gilles and Tony Sebok take up the subject of Crowd-Classing Individual Arbitrations in a Post-Class Action Era. They suggest that enterprising plaintiffs’ attorneys have two potentially viable avenues for making it financially viable to pursue multiple small claims in the teeth of widespread arbitral class waivers. First, arbitration-free plaintiffs could be recruited...
Enforceability of Forum Selection Clauses
June 26, 2014
It is not unusual for parties to agree to settle disputes in a preselected court or arbitration proceeding, in a preselected location. These are referred to as “forum selection” provisions. The Supreme Court recently addressed the enforceability of such clauses in Atlantic Marine Construction Co., Inc. v. United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2013 WL 6231157 (U.S. Dec. 3, 2013). Atlantic Marine, a Virginia corporation, entered into a contract with the U.S. Army Corps...
June 26, 2014
It is not unusual for parties to agree to settle disputes in a preselected court or arbitration proceeding, in a preselected location. These are referred to as “forum selection” provisions. The Supreme Court recently addressed the enforceability of such clauses in Atlantic Marine Construction Co., Inc. v. United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2013 WL 6231157 (U.S. Dec. 3, 2013). Atlantic Marine, a Virginia corporation, entered into a contract with the U.S. Army Corps...
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Delaware Arbitration Case
June 25, 2014
In 2009, the Delaware State Legislature amended the rules governing the resolution of disputes in the Court of Chancery. The law gave chancery judges the power to privately arbitrate business disputes when agreed to by the parties. The dispute must involve at least one business entity and one party must be a citizen of Delaware. Business disputes involving consumers could not be submitted to the program. If the only remedy sought was monetary relief, the amount in controversy must exceed one million...
June 25, 2014
In 2009, the Delaware State Legislature amended the rules governing the resolution of disputes in the Court of Chancery. The law gave chancery judges the power to privately arbitrate business disputes when agreed to by the parties. The dispute must involve at least one business entity and one party must be a citizen of Delaware. Business disputes involving consumers could not be submitted to the program. If the only remedy sought was monetary relief, the amount in controversy must exceed one million...
