Fellows of the College of Commercial Arbitrators are knowledgeable and highly skilled, and that arbitration parties and their advocates routinely entrust College Fellows with their most important disputes. A recent public report of an arbitration award issued by College Fellow Richard H. Silberberg provides a case in point. We are all familiar with the famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, which was developed into an Academy Award-winning motion picture starring …
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Improving the Arbitration Process Using a CCA Process Facilitator
Many members of the College of Commercial Arbitrators are successful mediators as well as arbitrators. As mediators they can function concurrently as Process Facilitators (“PFs”) during an arbitration to help the parties prepare for an efficient arbitration. As PFs, they are not participating in a Med/Arb process where the same person is both a mediator and an arbitrator. As separately hired mediators, the PFs can talk with parties confidentially, and help the parties use efficient collaborative …
The Floodgates Have Opened: Mass Arbitrations
A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have all but eliminated class arbitrations for consumers, employees, franchisees, and others with common claims against a single company. The latest, decisive blow came in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 587 U.S. __, 203 L. Ed. 2d 636 (2019), with the Court holding that arbitration on a classwide basis could not be compelled based on an arbitration agreement’s ambiguous language. Most arbitration agreements include a waiver of class arbitrations; …
Aardvarks Care About the Cost of Business Dispute Resolution!
The CCA Arbitration Aardvark* has noticed quite a bit of discussion on the cost of business dispute resolution and whether arbitration is speedier and less costly than litigation. It certainly can be and often is. It has been reported that business arbitrations take on average 7.3 months from start to resolution while the U.S. District Court cases take an average of 23.4 months – and that’s even before appeals. Generally, the longer a case takes the more expensive it becomes. The parties, in …
Preparation of Partial, Final, Interim and Corrected Awards and the Doctrine of Functus Officio
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Pathological Clause of 2021: Winner
Inspired by Gary Born’s lecture on Pathological Arbitration Clauses, as well as the discussion in his International Commercial Arbitration (3rd ed. 2021), I recently challenged CCA Fellows to nominate troublesome clauses that came to their attention this past year. Before announcing the winner, though, a word or two on the criteria for the challenge. Introduction As described in Frédéric Eisemann, La Clause D’arbitrage Pathologique [in COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION: ESSAYS …
The Floodgates Open: Managing Mass Arbitrations in the Wake of Epic Systems and Lamps Plus
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A New ADR Development: Mass Arbitrations
Many employees and consumers agree to arbitrate any dispute they may have with their employer or vendor. These agreements often result from "mandatory" arbitration clauses which simply means that the employee or consumer had no choice but to agree if she wanted to take the job or buy the product. (Published by Reuters, December 22, 2021) *The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CCA or any other organization. …
Can California Protect Employees from Entering into Mandatory Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements and Avoid Federal Preemption?
In California, legislative efforts to prevent employers from requiring employees to sign pre-dispute arbitration clauses, removing the right to a court or jury trial, have traveled a long and rocky road. The biggest rock — really a boulder — has been the doctrine of federal preemption. Does the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempt California’s most recent attempt to prevent employers from requiring employees to enter into mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements? (Published in California …
Arbitration’s Advantages Make It A Superior Solution
The benefits of commercial arbitration are generally known and widely accepted. Arbitration disputes on average are concluded far more quickly and efficiently than court litigation. (Published by Law360, December 2021) [Reprinted with permission from Law360.] *The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CCA or any other organization. …
