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Table Of Contents - Issue 2 Jul 2010

Table Of Contents - Issue 2

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.


You Promised You Wouldn't Tell: Modifying Arbitration Confidentiality Agreements To Allow Third-Party Access To Prior Arbitration Documents, Gotham Holdings, Heath Grades Jul 2010

You Promised You Wouldn't Tell: Modifying Arbitration Confidentiality Agreements To Allow Third-Party Access To Prior Arbitration Documents, Gotham Holdings, Heath Grades

Journal of Dispute Resolution

To facilitate the speed, cost-effectiveness, and casual atmosphere of arbitration, it has long been thought that parties must trade in the usual features of the courts, such as precedent, appellate review, and certain evidentiary rules. With the increasing use of arbitration, many parties have begun to demand that some of the comforts that have long accompanied litigation be merged with the benefits of arbitration. Courts have, for the most part, denied such demands. Nevertheless, the Seventh Circuit in Gotham Holdings allowed such a demand by ruling that third parties must have the opportunity to obtain prior arbitration awards and use …


Tale Of Two Policies: Corporate Immunity And Its Negative Externalities, The Worst Of Times For Consumers, A, David Ma Jul 2010

Tale Of Two Policies: Corporate Immunity And Its Negative Externalities, The Worst Of Times For Consumers, A, David Ma

Journal of Dispute Resolution

When the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in Kaneff v. Del. Title Loans, Inc., faced a Pennsylvania statute that prohibited payday loans,' the Third Circuit refused to enforce the state statute. This note will explore the reasoning underlying and discuss the effects of the Third Circuit's decision, providing a consequential look at the externalities that Kaneff created. As will become evident, these effects are quite serious and far-reaching, both to Pennsylvania's citizens and Pennsylvania's regulatory scheme.


Arbitration Clauses In Contracts Of Adhesion Trap Sophisticated Parties Too, Andrea Doneff Jul 2010

Arbitration Clauses In Contracts Of Adhesion Trap Sophisticated Parties Too, Andrea Doneff

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Part II of this Article will provide a survey of the FAA, the cases that have enforced it since its passage in 1925, and the distinctions made by the drafters and the courts. Part III addresses a number of the common themes and limitations raised by cases applying the FAA, including the ability to protect statutory rights, the right to contract and have courts enforce contractual obligations, the need to protect consumers subject to mandatory arbitration clauses, and the need for finality in arbitration. Part IV reviews recent legislative and Supreme Court decisions considering issues regarding sophisticated and unsophisticated parties …


Building Bridges To Resolve Conflict And Overcome The Prisoner's Dilemma: The Vital Role Of Professional Relationships In The Collaborative Law Process, David Hoffman, Dawn Ash Jul 2010

Building Bridges To Resolve Conflict And Overcome The Prisoner's Dilemma: The Vital Role Of Professional Relationships In The Collaborative Law Process, David Hoffman, Dawn Ash

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Part 1 of this article describes the rapid growth of Collaborative Practice and the dense fabric of professional relationships that has been woven with the Collaborative Practice community. Part H explores the Prisoner's Dilemma, which explains why, in the absence of such relationships and mutual commitments to collaboration, there are hard-to-resist pressures to engage in competitive, win-lose, adversarial forms of negotiation. Part II also explores the role that lawyers can play in overcoming those pressures. Part III is based on interviews with teams of Collaborative lawyers and other professionals, who describe the personal qualities and skills that support strong relationships …


Pitfalls And Possibilities Of Using Technology In Mediating Cross-Border Child Custody Cases, The, Melissa A. Kucinski Jul 2010

Pitfalls And Possibilities Of Using Technology In Mediating Cross-Border Child Custody Cases, The, Melissa A. Kucinski

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This paper will explore current efforts to ensure parents have the opportunity to elect voluntary mediation with a skilled international family mediator to resolve issues stemming from one parent traveling to another country with the parties' child, against the wishes of the co-parent. Additionally, this paper will explore, in general, the practical and substantive considerations in mediating a cross-border child custody case, with a focus on one issue of primary concern-the use of technology in these mediations. The paper will additionally include a discussion on whether technology will hinder or help resolution when considering cultural differences. Many mediators prefer to …


Obituary For The Federal Arbitration Act: An Older Cousin To Modern Civil Procedure, An, Imre S. Szalai Jul 2010

Obituary For The Federal Arbitration Act: An Older Cousin To Modern Civil Procedure, An, Imre S. Szalai

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In order to explore the different ways in which the FAA is related to the development of modern civil procedure, this article is divided into four main parts. first, this article discusses how the FAA is related to the Judiciary Act of 1925. Second, this article focuses on the FAA's relationship to the enactment of the Rules Enabling Act and the related adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Third, this article discusses how the Supreme Court's transformation of the doctrine of personal jurisdiction in International Shoe is related to the enactment of the FAA. Fourth, this article discusses …


State Legislative Update , Josephine Larison, Steven Robson, Elizabeth Russell, Derek Ankrom Jul 2010

State Legislative Update , Josephine Larison, Steven Robson, Elizabeth Russell, Derek Ankrom

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Vermont House Bill 663 would modify current law to follow a national trend of special medical malpractice statutes that require the arbitration of such claims, as well as following a similar trend to limit noneconomic and non-pecuniary damage recovery.' Arbitration for medical malpractice claims has been allowed under state law for more than thirty years. The bill, sponsored by nine members of the General Assembly, sought to amend the "Voluntary Arbitration Chapter," chapter 215 (§§ 7001-7009) and add a provision to section 1913 of Vermont Statute Title 12.


More Than Just Territorial: The 8th Circuit Establishment A Resourceful Precedent In Claiming Jurisdiction Over Denials To Compel Arbitration, Ashley Marshall Jul 2010

More Than Just Territorial: The 8th Circuit Establishment A Resourceful Precedent In Claiming Jurisdiction Over Denials To Compel Arbitration, Ashley Marshall

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This note argues that the Eighth Circuit's decision to claim jurisdiction in Industrial Wire Products, Inc. v. Costco Wholesale Corp. was practical and resourceful, as that court is better suited to decide matters of contract interpretation. The highly specialized Federal Circuit should devote its time and expertise to governing cases in particular areas of law, like patent litigation and administrative law. This note further argues that the Eighth Circuit preserved judicial resources and adhered to the parties' intentions in holding that the patent infringement claims were required to proceed through arbitration.


Mediation Tune Up For The State Court Appellate Machine, A, Bobbi Mcadoo Jul 2010

Mediation Tune Up For The State Court Appellate Machine, A, Bobbi Mcadoo

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Article begins in Part II with a review of the rationale for appellate mediation programs. In Part III the Article will discuss the development and evaluation of a pilot program for the mediation of family appellate cases in Minnesota. The pilot was developed and implemented with the goals of settlement and other qualitative justice measures in mind. Moreover, preliminary evaluation results for the pilot suggest that both continue to be important and can be achieved.3 In Part IV the Article will discuss the elements of program design most likely to make appellate mediation programs succeed, in terms of both …


Union Refusal To Arbitrate: Pyett's Unanswered Question, F. Ryan Van Pelt Jul 2010

Union Refusal To Arbitrate: Pyett's Unanswered Question, F. Ryan Van Pelt

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Kravar v. Triangle Services, Inc., provides the most workable solution to date, balancing competing union, employer, and employee interests. Kravar gives an employee access to federal court, as a matter of right, in the face of union refusal to arbitrate his or her federal statutory claims.8 Although the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York offered little discussion of the policy behind its new rule, there are sound policy rationales underlying it.


Evolving Schizophrenic Nature Of Labor Arbitration, The, Martin H. Malin Jan 2010

Evolving Schizophrenic Nature Of Labor Arbitration, The, Martin H. Malin

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Commentators have rightly criticized Pyett for its complete disregard of decades of established precedent. In this article, however, I situate the Pyett decision in the context of an ongoing evolution in labor arbitration as that institution has tried to accommodate the intrusion of public law claims into a private system of workplace self-governance. I suggest that labor arbitration has developed a kind of schizophrenic existence, preserving its role as a substitute for strikes and other workplace strife in a private system of self-governance while accommodating an additional role as a substitute for litigation of public law claims. Nevertheless, I find …


Sweet Vindication: The Second Circuit Strikes A Blow To Companies That Use Class-Action Waivers In Arbitration Agreements To Avoid The Law, Samuel E. Buffaloe Jan 2010

Sweet Vindication: The Second Circuit Strikes A Blow To Companies That Use Class-Action Waivers In Arbitration Agreements To Avoid The Law, Samuel E. Buffaloe

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Other scholars and courts have concluded that when a class action waiver prevents a plaintiff from vindicating his statutory rights, that waiver should be unenforceable. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit took this approach in In re American Express Merchants' Litigation. The court, however, was careful to point out that these class-action waivers should not be considered unenforceable per se, but that courts must examine each waiver on a case-by-case basis. This note will examine the court's reasoning and will discuss what courts and Congress should do to protect consumers when companies use class-action waivers to avoid …


Disputatio: Creeping Legalism As A Declension Myth, Dennis R. Nolan Jan 2010

Disputatio: Creeping Legalism As A Declension Myth, Dennis R. Nolan

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The term "creeping legalism," the topic of this symposium, applies to several different developments in labor arbitration. This essay examines each of those developments and explains why that pejorative term misses its mark.


Fallout From 14 Penn Plaza V. Pyett: Fractured Arbitration Systems In The Unionized Workplace, Ann C. Hodges Jan 2010

Fallout From 14 Penn Plaza V. Pyett: Fractured Arbitration Systems In The Unionized Workplace, Ann C. Hodges

Journal of Dispute Resolution

First, the article will review the history of arbitration of statutory employment claims, including the Pyett decision. Second, the article will look at the history and causes of legalism in arbitration. Then the article will consider the probable responses of employers and unions to Pyett. While predictions are necessarily speculative, it is likely that some unionized employers will seek to require employees to arbitrate statutory claims, perhaps in higher percentages than in the nonunion workplace. While unions may, and perhaps should, resist, many future collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) may contain such provisions. The article then discusses the alternative dispute resolution …


Irreconcilable Deferences - The Troubled Marriage Of Judicial Review Standards Under The Steelworkers Trilogy And The Federal Arbitration Act, Michael H. Leroy Jan 2010

Irreconcilable Deferences - The Troubled Marriage Of Judicial Review Standards Under The Steelworkers Trilogy And The Federal Arbitration Act, Michael H. Leroy

Journal of Dispute Resolution

To explore the ramifications of this hybrid, labor-employment discrimination award, I ask what standards would a court apply to review an arbitrator's ruling. The Steelworker's Trilogy-three Supreme Court decisions that explain to courts how to review awards under section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act-pronounce deferential standards. But until now, individual employment awards have typically been reviewed under section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) or state law equivalents. My research on labor awards and individual employment awards show that courts do not behave the same under these different regimes. They enforce about seventy-two percent of labor awards, but …


Mediation In Employment And Creeping Legalism: Implications For Dispute Systems Design, Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Susan Summers Raines, Timothy Hedeen, Lisa Marie Napoli Jan 2010

Mediation In Employment And Creeping Legalism: Implications For Dispute Systems Design, Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Susan Summers Raines, Timothy Hedeen, Lisa Marie Napoli

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article will explore the question of creeping legalism in mediation of statutory disputes arising out of employment. First, it will briefly review the issue of creeping legalism in arbitration. Second, it will introduce dispute systems design (DSD). Third, it will review the analogous debate on legalism in mediation in three design contexts: evaluative mediation of employment disputes in the court-connected setting, grievance mediation embedded in the collective bargaining agreement, and transformative mediation of employment disputes in the United States Postal Service's (USPS's) REDRESS program. Most employees do not face a choice among mediation models; instead, they choose among adjudicative …


Arbitration Nation: While Arbitration Grows, Judicial Review Of Arbitral Awards May Be Shrinking, F. Shabnam Nouraie Jan 2010

Arbitration Nation: While Arbitration Grows, Judicial Review Of Arbitral Awards May Be Shrinking, F. Shabnam Nouraie

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Sands v. Menard, Inc., the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin upheld an arbitration award reinstating a discharged attorney to her position as in-house counsel. On appeal, the court refused to vacate the reinstatement order, notwithstanding the fact that reinstatement was not requested or desired by either party, the effect of reinstatement was likely to violate the ethical rules that bind attorneys, and other remedies were available to compensate the aggrieved party. This note explores the limited but important role that judicial review plays, and will continue to play, in arbitration and how this role affected the outcome of Sands …


Table Of Contents - Issue 1 Jan 2010

Table Of Contents - Issue 1

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.


Holistic Strategy For Coming To Grips With The Creeping Legalism Of Labor Arbitration, A, Stephen L. Hayford Jan 2010

Holistic Strategy For Coming To Grips With The Creeping Legalism Of Labor Arbitration, A, Stephen L. Hayford

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The commentary that follows is a call to advocates to take back responsibility for settling the disputes that arise during the life of the collective bargaining agreement by becoming more adept negotiators, able and willing to find and engage the truth and unafraid to lead and make difficult decisions. Only then will the legal machinations and contortions that increasingly plague labor arbitration be rendered unnecessary in most circumstances. I assert that the "creeping legalism" of labor arbitration is a symptom of the too-frequent failure of the contractual grievance procedure to resolve difficult disputes. The conundrum that phenomenon presents can be …


All Bound Up With No Place To Go: A Lack Of Individual Alternatives To Binding Arbitration Provisions For Statutory Claims, Matthew Gierse Jan 2010

All Bound Up With No Place To Go: A Lack Of Individual Alternatives To Binding Arbitration Provisions For Statutory Claims, Matthew Gierse

Journal of Dispute Resolution

For the greater part of the twentieth century, arbitration has played a large role in resolving disputes between unions representing employees and employers. However, during the past few decades, these employment contracts began to incorporate mandatory arbitration agreements for statutory discrimination claims, with at least one-fifth of all employees presently subject to mandatory arbitration. During this same period, courts began to broaden the ability of employees to waive their right to a judicial forum for statutory claims; Tewolde v. Owens & Minor Distribution is no exception. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that a union …


Effect Of Shari'a On The Dispute Resolution Process Set Forth In The Washington Convention, The, Andrew Smolik Jan 2010

Effect Of Shari'a On The Dispute Resolution Process Set Forth In The Washington Convention, The, Andrew Smolik

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article will provide an overview of Shari'a law with respect to arbitration. Section I provides an overview of principles of Shari'a and its development. Section II discusses Islamic jurisprudence and the different schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Section III provides a discussion of the different schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Section IV provides a history of arbitration in the Middle East from the period before Muhammad to today. Section V gives a brief overview of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention). Sections VI and VI discuss issues regarding choice of …


Third Circuit Buyers Beware: District Court In Litman Holds Unconscionability Defense Contravened By Federal Arbitration Act, David C. Winters Jan 2010

Third Circuit Buyers Beware: District Court In Litman Holds Unconscionability Defense Contravened By Federal Arbitration Act, David C. Winters

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Without even knowing it, just about everyone has agreed to settle disputes through arbitration and has waived any rights to proceed on a class-wide basis. While many consumers do not read the fine print in the agreements they sign, a variety of companies, from cell phone providers to car dealers, have consumers agree in sales contracts to arbitrate any claims and to waive the ability to proceed with a class action claim. This was the scenario in the case of Litman v. Cellco Partnership, in which a New Jersey federal district court held that the plaintiff cell phone customers could …