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A Court Clash on Confidentiality and Mediation Policy
March 7, 2013
The Indiana Supreme Court recently declared that the state’s judicial policy supports “robust confidentiality” in mediation. In doing so, the court vacated a Court of Appeals ruling that would have expanded the circumstances in which confidentiality could be broken to obtain evidence. The two rulings reflect a strong contrast in interpretations of ADR rules and judicial policy toward mediation. As I discussed in an earlier post, the appellant wished to use evidence from his divorce...
March 7, 2013
The Indiana Supreme Court recently declared that the state’s judicial policy supports “robust confidentiality” in mediation. In doing so, the court vacated a Court of Appeals ruling that would have expanded the circumstances in which confidentiality could be broken to obtain evidence. The two rulings reflect a strong contrast in interpretations of ADR rules and judicial policy toward mediation. As I discussed in an earlier post, the appellant wished to use evidence from his divorce...
Litigation Financing And The Securities Laws
March 6, 2013
Eighteen years ago I urged that outside investors be allowed – indeed encouraged – to fund plaintiffs’ lawsuits in return...
March 6, 2013
Eighteen years ago I urged that outside investors be allowed – indeed encouraged – to fund plaintiffs’ lawsuits in return...
Mediating Entertainment Industry Trademark Claims
March 6, 2013
Many recent entertainment cases have involved claims of trademark infringement by film or television producers. Such claims...
March 6, 2013
Many recent entertainment cases have involved claims of trademark infringement by film or television producers. Such claims...
ADR Techniques Are Gaining Popularity in Collective Bargaining Disputes
March 6, 2013
Charles B. Craver, Freda H. Alverson Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law Schoolrecently published a thought-provoking article entitled The Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques to Resolve Public Sector Bargaining Disputes, Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, Vol. 28, p. 45, 2013. In his article, Professor Craver examines the growing use of alternative dispute resolution techniques in public sector bargaining disagreements. Here is the abstract: Labor...
March 6, 2013
Charles B. Craver, Freda H. Alverson Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law Schoolrecently published a thought-provoking article entitled The Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques to Resolve Public Sector Bargaining Disputes, Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, Vol. 28, p. 45, 2013. In his article, Professor Craver examines the growing use of alternative dispute resolution techniques in public sector bargaining disagreements. Here is the abstract: Labor...
TyMetrix Opens Forum Series on “Emerging Trends in Buying Legal Services”
March 5, 2013
TyMetrix, the global leader in intelligent solutions for managing the business of law, announced today the launch of its 2013 TyMetrix Legal Analytics LegalVIEW(R) FORUM series, peer-to-peer content-driven sessions that focus on today's most pressing legal issues. The first session, "Establishing Value-Based Pricing and AFAs," will be held on February 28 at the Harvard Club, 35 West 44th Street, in New York, from noon to 6 p.m. "These forums truly represent a first in the legal industry, bringing...
March 5, 2013
TyMetrix, the global leader in intelligent solutions for managing the business of law, announced today the launch of its 2013 TyMetrix Legal Analytics LegalVIEW(R) FORUM series, peer-to-peer content-driven sessions that focus on today's most pressing legal issues. The first session, "Establishing Value-Based Pricing and AFAs," will be held on February 28 at the Harvard Club, 35 West 44th Street, in New York, from noon to 6 p.m. "These forums truly represent a first in the legal industry, bringing...
Prius Owners Put the Brakes On Arbitration With Non-Signatory Toyota
March 5, 2013
The Ninth Circuit ruled this week that a class of car owners could pursue their court claims against the manufacturer, Toyota, for product defects and false advertising, despite the existence of an arbitration agreement in each of the owners’ purchase agreements with the car dealerships. The court held that Toyota had not proven either of the types of equitable estoppel that would allow it, as a non-signatory to the purchase agreements, to enforce the agreements’ arbitration clause. Kramer...
March 5, 2013
The Ninth Circuit ruled this week that a class of car owners could pursue their court claims against the manufacturer, Toyota, for product defects and false advertising, despite the existence of an arbitration agreement in each of the owners’ purchase agreements with the car dealerships. The court held that Toyota had not proven either of the types of equitable estoppel that would allow it, as a non-signatory to the purchase agreements, to enforce the agreements’ arbitration clause. Kramer...
ReinventLaw Silicon Valley
March 5, 2013
Reinvent Law Silicon Valley is happening next Friday, March 8 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The brain child of Professors Daniel Martin Katz and Renee Knake, co-founders and co-directors of the Reinvent Law Laboratory at Michigan State University Law School, the event promises to be quite a bash. The event is free, but attendance is limited to 400 participants and you have to register to get in. Over 40 innovators, founders, policymakers, venture capitalist and other...
March 5, 2013
Reinvent Law Silicon Valley is happening next Friday, March 8 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The brain child of Professors Daniel Martin Katz and Renee Knake, co-founders and co-directors of the Reinvent Law Laboratory at Michigan State University Law School, the event promises to be quite a bash. The event is free, but attendance is limited to 400 participants and you have to register to get in. Over 40 innovators, founders, policymakers, venture capitalist and other...
The Empirics of Regulation
March 4, 2013
Now that Cass Sunstein (Harvard) has departed the Obama Administration (and OIRA) and migrated back to academic life, in a recent paper published by the University of Chicago Law Review, Empirically Informed Regulation, Sunstein illustrates the central role data play (or, at least should play) in the development of regulations, with an emphasis on behavioral economics. The paper's abstract follows. "In recent years, social scientists have been incorporating empirical findings about human behavior...
March 4, 2013
Now that Cass Sunstein (Harvard) has departed the Obama Administration (and OIRA) and migrated back to academic life, in a recent paper published by the University of Chicago Law Review, Empirically Informed Regulation, Sunstein illustrates the central role data play (or, at least should play) in the development of regulations, with an emphasis on behavioral economics. The paper's abstract follows. "In recent years, social scientists have been incorporating empirical findings about human behavior...
FINRA Panel Concludes FAA Preempts Enforcement Class Action Waiver Barring Rules
March 4, 2013
FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers issued its decision today in Dep’t of Enforcement v. Charles Schwab & Co, an enforcement action in which FINRA alleged that Schwab’s class action and joinder waiver language in its customer agreement violated FINRA rules that preserved the judicial class action remedy for investors and empowered arbitrators to consolidate non-class though similar claims. For more details about the background and the facts of the enforcement action, see my previous...
March 4, 2013
FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers issued its decision today in Dep’t of Enforcement v. Charles Schwab & Co, an enforcement action in which FINRA alleged that Schwab’s class action and joinder waiver language in its customer agreement violated FINRA rules that preserved the judicial class action remedy for investors and empowered arbitrators to consolidate non-class though similar claims. For more details about the background and the facts of the enforcement action, see my previous...
Limiting Reviewability of Transfer Venues in Texas
March 4, 2013
Venue is a major consideration in structuring any lawsuit. A plaintiff’s choice of venue under Texas law can, however, be disturbed if a court determines that venue in another county is in the interests of convenience and justice. This article addresses venue transfers based on convenience and justice and a recent trend in Texas decisions to limit the reviewability of such transfers. Under Texas law, venue is proper in the county where all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving...
March 4, 2013
Venue is a major consideration in structuring any lawsuit. A plaintiff’s choice of venue under Texas law can, however, be disturbed if a court determines that venue in another county is in the interests of convenience and justice. This article addresses venue transfers based on convenience and justice and a recent trend in Texas decisions to limit the reviewability of such transfers. Under Texas law, venue is proper in the county where all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving...
