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Ontario Court Imposes Costs for Sham Mediation
February 26, 2014
An Ontario, Canada, court ordered defendant to pay C$60,000 in costs for “sham” mediation after a C$248,000 verdict was rendered against it. Defendant’s counsel had agreed to briefly mediate but wrote that defendant was “not interested in settling” and then stood firm on its modest offer in the mediation. The court did not rely on any other details from or about the mediation, but noted in imposing costs that a C$50,000 gap between the offer and demand required a six-day trial. Ross...
February 26, 2014
An Ontario, Canada, court ordered defendant to pay C$60,000 in costs for “sham” mediation after a C$248,000 verdict was rendered against it. Defendant’s counsel had agreed to briefly mediate but wrote that defendant was “not interested in settling” and then stood firm on its modest offer in the mediation. The court did not rely on any other details from or about the mediation, but noted in imposing costs that a C$50,000 gap between the offer and demand required a six-day trial. Ross...
Florida Federal Court Rejects Arbitration Waiver Claims In Multijurisdictional Dispute
February 26, 2014
On January 10, 2014, Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the federal court based in Miami, issued an opinion which further solidifies the role of role of arbitration in international disputes, even when parallel litigation is pending in other jurisdictions. In December 2010, several entities affiliated with JSC Acron, a Moscow-based agrichemicals company, filed suit in Saskatchewan, Canada, to recover for certain breaches of fiduciary duty relating...
February 26, 2014
On January 10, 2014, Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the federal court based in Miami, issued an opinion which further solidifies the role of role of arbitration in international disputes, even when parallel litigation is pending in other jurisdictions. In December 2010, several entities affiliated with JSC Acron, a Moscow-based agrichemicals company, filed suit in Saskatchewan, Canada, to recover for certain breaches of fiduciary duty relating...
Court Clarifies ‘Stowers’ in Multiple Defendant Cases
February 25, 2014
The Fifth Circuit's decision in Pride Transportation v. Continental Casualty Co. clarifies the application of the Stowers doctrine to multiple defendant/multiple insured scenarios.
February 25, 2014
The Fifth Circuit's decision in Pride Transportation v. Continental Casualty Co. clarifies the application of the Stowers doctrine to multiple defendant/multiple insured scenarios.
Deal Mediation
February 25, 2014
The Harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there is gold in letting go of them. John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation Most of us assume that mediation is about dispute resolution. We are so locked into the idea that mediators help parties resolve their conflicts that we cannot see the real prize – which is to help parties make better deals! We are so entrenched in this conviction that, when you train to become a mediator,...
February 25, 2014
The Harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there is gold in letting go of them. John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation Most of us assume that mediation is about dispute resolution. We are so locked into the idea that mediators help parties resolve their conflicts that we cannot see the real prize – which is to help parties make better deals! We are so entrenched in this conviction that, when you train to become a mediator,...
CPR Awards: Paul Lurie, Nancy Rogers, Jim Stark, Doug Frenkel and More
February 25, 2014
The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), an independent nonprofit comprising global corporations,...
February 25, 2014
The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), an independent nonprofit comprising global corporations,...
NASDAQ, NYSE File Amicus Brief in Support of Arbitration
February 25, 2014
NASDAQ and the NYSE Euronext, the nation's two largest stock exchanges, filed an amicus brief today with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Delaware Court of Chancery's confidential arbitration program. The stock exchanges are the first companies to support the Chancery Court's program through amicus briefs.
February 25, 2014
NASDAQ and the NYSE Euronext, the nation's two largest stock exchanges, filed an amicus brief today with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Delaware Court of Chancery's confidential arbitration program. The stock exchanges are the first companies to support the Chancery Court's program through amicus briefs.
Mandatory Mediation for Every Fifth Case in New York County’s Commercial Division?
February 25, 2014
The Commercial Division Advisory Council has proposed that the court adopt a pilot program for New York County’s Commercial Division that would send every fifth newly assigned case to mediation unless the parties stipulate otherwise or one party makes a good cause showing that mediation would be ineffective or unjust. A copy of the proposal is available here. The pilot program is described as “fairly conservative” and flexible in the December 11, 2013 proposal. The program is purportedly...
February 25, 2014
The Commercial Division Advisory Council has proposed that the court adopt a pilot program for New York County’s Commercial Division that would send every fifth newly assigned case to mediation unless the parties stipulate otherwise or one party makes a good cause showing that mediation would be ineffective or unjust. A copy of the proposal is available here. The pilot program is described as “fairly conservative” and flexible in the December 11, 2013 proposal. The program is purportedly...
Google’s Ray Kurzweil Predicts How the World Will Change
February 24, 2014
2017: Self-driving cars “Google self-driving cars have gone half a million miles without human drivers on highways and city...
February 24, 2014
2017: Self-driving cars “Google self-driving cars have gone half a million miles without human drivers on highways and city...
Oral Agreement? Get It in Writing, Too
February 24, 2014
If it didn’t happen in writing . . . it didn’t happen. That’s what the California Court of Appeal recently told plaintiffs seeking to avoid foreclosure. According to Lisa Yun and Alejandro Moreno onSheppard Mullin’s Financial Institutions Blog, the top California court ruled that an oral promise to modify a loan was not valid.
February 24, 2014
If it didn’t happen in writing . . . it didn’t happen. That’s what the California Court of Appeal recently told plaintiffs seeking to avoid foreclosure. According to Lisa Yun and Alejandro Moreno onSheppard Mullin’s Financial Institutions Blog, the top California court ruled that an oral promise to modify a loan was not valid.
Amici Arbitration Professors and Practitioners Weigh In on Fourth Circuit’s Manifest Disregard Opinion
February 24, 2014
The primary interest of amici is the orderly and consistent review of arbitral awards by courts in the United States when a party seeks vacatur under Section 10 of the FAA. Amici believe that the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Dewan v. Walia, - F. App'x - , 2013 WL 5781207 (4th Cir. Oct. 28, 2013), applying the manifest disregard doctrine as an independent basis for vacatur and relying on an expansive view of that doctrine to vacate the arbitral award...
February 24, 2014
The primary interest of amici is the orderly and consistent review of arbitral awards by courts in the United States when a party seeks vacatur under Section 10 of the FAA. Amici believe that the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Dewan v. Walia, - F. App'x - , 2013 WL 5781207 (4th Cir. Oct. 28, 2013), applying the manifest disregard doctrine as an independent basis for vacatur and relying on an expansive view of that doctrine to vacate the arbitral award...
