The Three Phases of the Supreme Court’s Arbitration Jurisprudence
April 12, 2017

Martin H. Malin, Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, has published “The Three Phases of the Supreme Court’s Arbitration Jurisprudence: Empowering the Already-Empowered,” Nevada Law Journal, Vol. 17, 2016.  In his journal article, Professor Malin provides his take on the evolution of United States Supreme Court arbitration jurisprudence since the Federal Arbitration Act was adopted. Here...

Arbitration About Arbitration
April 11, 2017

David Horton, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, has written an interesting journal article titled “Arbitration About Arbitration,” Stanford Law Review, Vol. 70, (2017), Forthcoming.  In his publication, Professor Horton examines the effect of delegation clauses in arbitration agreements. Here is the abstract: Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) has nearly eliminated...

Federal Judge Denies Class Arbitration Request in Legal Data Security Case
April 10, 2017

An Illinois federal judge has ruled that client data security claims filed against a Chicago-based law firm must be decided through individual arbitration.  In Shore et al. v. Johnson & Bell, Ltd., No. 1:16-CV-04363 (N.D. Ill), plaintiffs’ attorney Jay Edelson sought to engage in class-action litigation against Johnson & Bell, a law firm Edelson claims failed to adequately protect its client data.  Although no actual client data breach is alleged in the case, Edelson claims Johnson &...

An Arbitration Agreement That Attempts to Skew a Statutory Arbitration Scheme Is Void as Against Public Policy
April 10, 2017

Federal public policy favors arbitration and the broad interpretation and enforcement of arbitration agreements. So how can an arbitration agreement be held by a court to be void as against public policy?  One answer from a state court (in circumstances where the Federal Arbitration Act did not apply) is that toying with a statutory arbitration scheme could do the trick. In Hernandez v. Crespo, No. SC15-67, 2016 Fla. LEXIS 2718 (Fla. Dec. 22, 2016), the Supreme Court of Florida held that a physician-patient...

Article on Arbitration of Trust Disputes
April 5, 2017

S.I. Strong recently published an Article entitled, The European Succession Regulation and the Arbitration of Trust Disputes,...

The Interplay between Empirical Studies and Commercial Arbitration Practice
April 4, 2017

As the international legal community places unprecedented emphasis on commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, there is ample opportunity for discussion, introspection, and reconsideration of policies and practices. In this environment, empirical studies, including surveys of stakeholder groups, provide a helpful source of insight and inference in advancing our mutual understanding of arbitration practices and stakeholder perceptions. There are many challenges and concerns regarding surveys,...

Prison Telephone Service Provider Continues to Lose on Enforcing Arbitration Provision
April 4, 2017

I have already blogged about a related case out of the Western District of Arkansas, in which the court concluded that prison inmates did not consent to arbitrate when they funded their telephone accounts to enable them to make calls. This case out of the Third Circuit, James v. Global Tellink Corp., No. 16-1555, affirms a similar conclusion by the District of New Jersey. To refresh your memory, GTL provides telephone services to prison inmates. Inmates sign up for accounts and deposit funds into...

An Arbitration Agreement That Attempts to Skew a Statutory Arbitration Scheme Is Void
April 3, 2017

Federal public policy favors arbitration and the broad interpretation and enforcement of arbitration agreements. So how can an arbitration agreement be held by a court to be void as against public policy?  One answer from a state court (in circumstances where the Federal Arbitration Act did not apply) is that toying with a statutory arbitration scheme could do the trick. In Hernandez v. Crespo, No. SC15-67, 2016 Fla. LEXIS 2718 (Fla. Dec. 22, 2016), the Supreme Court of Florida held that a physician-patient...

Mandatory vs. Permissive Arbitration Clauses
March 31, 2017

In an earlier post we provided advice on how to interpret the words “may” and “must” when they appear in arbitration clauses that are to be interpreted under U.S. law. Among other things, we explained that an arbitration clause that says that a party “may” submit a dispute to binding arbitration will be viewed as mandatory in U.S. courts if any party chooses to arbitrate. That post led us to question whether those “may” and “must” words are interpreted consistently in other...

An Inside Look at the Jury Experience
March 24, 2017

The role of the jury in protecting the rights of Americans in criminal and civil cases is the focus of a U.S. Courts video discussion featuring two U.S. district judges, a clerk of court, and a law professor and author on the jury process. The panel discussion, titled “Knowledge Seminar: An Inside Look at the Jury Experience,” was held Nov. 17 in Washington, D.C. Panelists included Judge George O’Toole, District of Massachusetts; Judge Reggie Walton, District Court for the District of Columbia;...