Law Commons^™

Adapting Private Law For Climate Change Adaptation, Jim Rossi, J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law Review

The private law of torts, property, and contracts will and should play an important role in resolving disputes regarding how private individuals and entities respond to and manage the harms of climate change that cannot be avoided through mitigation (known in climate change policy dialogue as “adaptation”). While adaptation is commonly presented as a problem needing legislative solutions, this Article presents a novel and overdue case for private law to take climate adaptation seriously.

To date, the role of private law is a significant blind spot in scholarly discussions of climate adaptation. Litigation invoking common-law doctrines in climate adaption disputes …

What’S In The Contract?: Rockefeller, The Hague Service Convention, And Serving Process Abroad, Thomas G. Vanderbeek

Vanderbilt Law Review

Today’s global economy relies on transnational commerce. The Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Hague Service Convention”), implemented in 1965, encouraged transnational commerce by establishing a streamlined mechanism for serving foreign parties with process. More reliable international service methods helped ensure parties that they could resolve disputes with foreign parties through the courts. The Hague Service Convention thus created a bridge between civil and common law procedures on service while reducing some of the risks of engaging in business with foreign parties.

At the same time, the Hague Service Convention frequently …

The New Bailments, Danielle D’Onfro

Washington Law Review

The rise of cloud computing has dramatically changed how consumers and firms store their belongings. Property that owners once managed directly now exists primarily on infrastructure maintained by intermediaries. Consumers entrust their photos to Apple instead of scrapbooks; businesses put their documents on Amazon’s servers instead of in file cabinets; seemingly everything runs in the cloud. Were these belongings tangible, the relationship between owner and intermediary would be governed by the common-law doctrine of bailment. Bailments are mandatory relationships formed when one party entrusts their property to another. Within this relationship, the bailees owe the bailors a duty of care …

Mechanisms For Consultation And Free, Prior And Informed Consent In The Negotiation Of Investment Contracts, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Cordes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low- and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based and natural resource investments, such as agricultural, extractive industry, forestry, or renewable energy projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This practice will usually risk violating requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly concerning when the investor-state contract gives the investor company rights to lands or resources over which local communities have legitimate claims.

This article explores how …

Innovation In Arbitration Law: The Case Of Delaware, Christopher R. Drahozal

Pepperdine Law Review

Delaware has become increasingly active in adopting innovative arbitration laws. In 2009, Delaware adopted a confidential system of “arbitration” conducted by sitting Court of Chancery judges, which was subsequently held unconstitutional as violating the First Amendment right of public access to the courts. In 2015, it enacted the Delaware Rapid Arbitration Act (DRAA), creating a system of expedited arbitration in Delaware. Among other things, the DRAA sets mandatory time limits for the completion of arbitration proceedings (with financial penalties for arbitrators who fail to comply), restricts the degree of court involvement in the arbitration process, and provides for expeditious review …

The Customer's Nonwaivable Right To Choose Arbitration In The Securities Industry, Jill I. Gross

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Arbitration has been the predominant form of dispute resolution in the securities industry since the 1980s. Virtually all brokerage firms include predispute arbitration agreements (PDAAs) in their retail customer contracts, and have successfully fought off challenges to their validity. Additionally, the industry has long mandated that firms submit to arbitration at the demand of a customer, even in the absence of a PDAA.

More recently, however, brokerage firms have been arguing that forum selection clauses in their agreements with sophisticated customers (such as institutional investors and issuers) supersede firms’ duty to arbitrate under FINRA Rule 12200. Circuit courts currently are …

“Whimsy Little Contracts” With Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis Of Consumer Understanding Of Arbitration Agreements, Jeff Sovern, Elayne E. Greenberg, Paul F. Kirgis, Yuxiang Liu

Maryland Law Review

Arbitration clauses have become ubiquitous in consumer contracts. These arbitration clauses require consumers to waive the constitutional right to a civil jury, access to court, and, increasingly, the procedural remedy of class representation. Because those rights cannot be divested without consent, the validity of arbitration agreements rests on the premise of consent. Consumers who do not want to arbitrate or waive their class rights can simply decline to purchase the products or services covered by an arbitration agreement. But the premise of consent is undermined if consumers do not understand the effect on their procedural rights of clicking a box …

Be Careful What You Do Not Ask For: Contracts With The Federal Government For Which Purely Nonmonetary Relief Exists In The Event Of Breach Must Provide For Monetary Damages To Make Them Available To Non-Breaching Private Parties, Matthew W. Cecil

Journal of Dispute Resolution

By further limiting access to one of the only forums in which private parties may seek monetary damages over $10,000 from the federal government, the United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Higbie v. United States1 has ensured non-breaching private parties will not be wholly compensated for their injuries and has undermined the court’s own interest in bolstering mediation.

Get The Best Of Both Worlds: Illusory Arbitration Agreements, Desiree Shay

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Note addresses the clauses in franchise-franchisee agreements that preserve the right for a franchisor to unilaterally alter the terms of arbitration after the franchise relationship has begun. A majority of courts, applying state contract law, have held that these clauses are unenforceable due to a lack of consideration, making the contract illusory. However, courts still come to different conclusions because each court has to follow state contract law. The United States Supreme Court’s holding on this issue might not be able to have full effect because the Federal Arbitration Act requires that courts rely on state law. The Seventh …

Day's Pyramid Ignores Sturdy Severability Foundation, Builds Off Granite Rock: Day V. Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, Inc., Wesley K . Dagestad

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Persons involved in a pyramid scheme are often blind to the overarching pyramid's purpose; similarly, contracting parties may possess little initial knowledge of an agreement's terms in their entirety. Arbitration agreements and other contractual obligations can be hidden in the depths of multiple documents, memorialized through simultaneous agreements incorporating the additional terms by various references. After Day, courts may now be required to dig through countless terms to parties' agreements to determine if a valid contract exists, and if so, which agreement governs the dispute at issue. After sifting through this contractual jungle, courts will be forced to take one …

In Quest Of The Arbitration Trifecta, Or Closed Door Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program , Thomas J. Stipanowich

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The Delaware Arbitration Program established a procedure by which businesses can agree to have their disputes heard in an arbitration proceeding before a sitting judge of the state’s highly regarded Chancery Court. The Program arguably offers a veritable trifecta of procedural advantages for commercial parties, including expert adjudication, efficient case management and short cycle time and, above all, a proceeding cloaked in secrecy. It also may enhance the reputation of Delaware as the forum of choice for businesses. But the Program’s ambitious intermingling of public and private forums brings into play the longstanding tug-of-war between the traditional view of court …

Legal Uncertainty And Aberrant Contracts: The Choice Of Law Clause, William J. Woodward Jr.

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Legal uncertainty about the applicability of local consumer protection can destroy a consumer’s claim or defense within the consumer arbitration environment. What is worse, because the consumer arbitration system cannot accommodate either legal complexity or legal uncertainty, the tendency will be to resolve cases in the way the consumer’s form contract dictates, that is, in favor of the drafter. To demonstrate this effect and advocate statutory change, this article focuses on fee-shifting statutes in California and several other states. These statutes convert very common one-way fee-shifting terms (consumer pays business’s attorneys fees if business wins but not the other way …

Waiving Goodbye To Arbitration: Factoring Prejudice When A Party Delays Assertion Of Its Contractual Right To Arbitrate: Elliot V. Kb Home N.C., Inc., Kristen Sanocki

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This note addresses the lawsuit described above, Elliott v. KB Home N.C., Inc., concerning whether KB Home waived its contractual right to arbitration by waiting three years to assert that right, which ultimately prejudiced a class of plaintiffs pursuing litigation against it. After examining how North Carolina courts decide whether to compel arbitration, this note will analyze the four-factor test North Carolina courts use to determine whether a party has sat on its right to arbitrate for too long, subjecting itself to waiver of arbitration. Finally, this note contends that North Carolina's four-factor test, as opposed to a bright-line rule, …

Viability Of Arbitration Clauses In West Virginia Oil And Gas Leases: It Is All About The Lease!!!, Phillip T. Glyptis

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nearly A Century In Reserve: Organized Baseball: Collective Bargaining And The Antitrust Exemption Enter The 80'S, Nancy Jean Meissner

Pepperdine Law Review

In her comment, the author fashions a compelling argument for congressional elimination of baseball's exemption from federal antitrust laws. After noting that the exemption had been formulated in 1922 by the Supreme Court, the author explains that it has been abused by baseball club owners to create a virtual monopoly over ballplayers through the reserve system. Although the reserve system's control was somewhat diluted in 1976, with the advent of free agency and collective bargaining, club owners are currently negotiating for mandatory compensation for the loss of free agents. The resultant threat of a player's strike has served to focus …

Negotiations Between The Wga And Amptp: How To Avoid Strikes And Still Promote Members' Needs, Jillian N. Morphis

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article focuses on the collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Writers Guild of America (WGA). The role of the WGA is to ensure the rights of writers are not violated and checks on their credit, legislation registration of their writings and enforcement of contracts, while AMPTP is a collective bargaining negotiating association. The strikes by WGA, the negotiation and mediation techniques are also discussed.

Beyond Nondiscrimination: At&T Mobility Llc V. Concepcion And The Further Federalization Of U.S. Arbitration Law, Edward P. Boyle, David N. Cinotti

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article presents information on the court case of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and which questioned the preemption of state law and the Federal Arbitration Act related to the enforcement of arbitration agreement. The unconscionability doctrine, the case law related to arbitration and the contract law is discussed. The interpretation of arbitration law is also discussed.

Contracting Around Ruaa: Default Rules, Mandatory Rules, And Judicial Review Of Arbitral Awards, Christopher R. Drahozal

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

By specifying that its provisions generally are default rules and listing particular exceptions, the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”) provides much needed certainty and avoids unnecessary litigation, at least compared to the Federal Arbitration Act, which does not always identify which of its provisions are default rules. In one important respect, however, RUAA jettisons that valuable certainty. The RUAA drafters left open (or at least sought to leave open) the question whether parties can contract to expand the grounds for judicial review of arbitration awards beyond those set out in the statute. In other words, the drafters purported not to …

New Use Of The Doctrine Of Unconscionability To Invalidate Arbitration Agreements In Consumer Contracts, The Note, Valerie Dixon

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Manfredi v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield suggests that this old judicial hostility is alive and well in Missouri jurisprudence. In an effort to level the playing field between parties of unequal bargaining power, Missouri courts have applied the unconscionability doctrine as a way to sidestep the United States Supreme Court's asserted policy favoring arbitration over litigation.7 This note considers the new approach of Missouri courts in invalidating arbitration agreements through the doctrine of unconscionability in the consumer context.

Rescuing The International Arbitral Model: Identifying The Problem In Natural Resources Trade And Development, Jacob R. Shaffer

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Missouri Courts Side With Employees Against The Eighth Circuit: Continued Employment Does Not Constitute Acceptance And Consideration For Mandatory Arbitration Agreements: Frye V. Speedway Chevrolet Cadillac, Laura Browne

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The question of whether continued employment constitutes acceptance and consideration for an employment contract, particularly applied to mandatory arbitration clauses, has split the authorities who decide on cases arising out of Missouri. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, while purporting to apply Missouri law in cases arising out of Missouri, holds that an employee who continues to work for his or her employer after an arbitration program has been implemented is bound by it by the virtue of his or her continued employment. Missouri courts, however, disagree with this interpretation of Missouri law and held in …

Implementing An Online Dispute Resolution Scheme: Using Domain Name Registration Contracts To Create A Workable Framework, Michael G. Bowers

Vanderbilt Law Review

Online businesses have grown tremendously in the past decade. As a larger percentage of the U.S. economy moves onto the Internet, a larger percentage of people doing business online will find themselves disagreeing with each other. How those disputes are resolved presents an ongoing challenge in a world where traditional ordering mechanisms, like geographical boundaries, become increasingly antiquated. As contracts are formed across state and national lines, dispute resolution systems built around spatial locations become ever more unwieldy. The complications and costs of securing a favorable decision from a far-off decisionmaking body make reliance on geographic-based systems exceedingly difficult. Out …

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 …

Life With Hoyt: Avoiding Misrepresentation Claims In Negotiating Settlement Agreements, Eric J. Magnuson, Daniel J. Supalla

Journal of Law and Practice

No abstract provided.

When Contracting Around The Law Will Not Work: The Potential Inability To Expressly Prohibit Punitive Damages In Arbitration, Alexia Norris

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Just as the availability of all appropriate remedies is an important part of judicial litigation, the attempt to identify and limit those remedies is an issue in an arbitration proceeding. After the United States Supreme Court's 1995 decision in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., it seemed clear that parties would be allowed to seek punitive damages if an agreement did not expressly prohibit such damages. Even so, parties continue to falter in writing agreements meant to contain the proper language that will succeed in limiting the availability of certain remedies. This is due to the continued confusion over how …

Centuries Of Contract Common Law Can't Be All Wrong: Why The Uma's Exception To Mediation Confidentiality In Enforcement Proceedings Should Be Embraced And Broadened, Peter Robinson

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and House of Delegates of the American Bar Association recently approved the Uniform Mediation Act ("UMA") with an eye toward unifying the law of mediation confidentiality in the United States. Soon, numerous states and other organizations will consider modifying statutes, court rules, or professional standards to conform to the UMA. One of the important aspects of mediation confidentiality is how it applies when enforcing a mediated agreement.' In some jurisdictions, mediation confidentiality interferes with the application of contract law when enforcing a mediated agreement to produce absurd results. This article will …