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Thomas J. Stipanowich

Selected Works

Consumer Protection Law

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Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

National Roundtable On Consumer And Employment Dispute Resolution: Consumer Arbitration Roundtable Summary Report, Thomas J. Stipanowich, Nancy Walsh, Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Lawrence R. Mills Apr 2012

National Roundtable On Consumer And Employment Dispute Resolution: Consumer Arbitration Roundtable Summary Report, Thomas J. Stipanowich, Nancy Walsh, Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Lawrence R. Mills

Thomas J. Stipanowich

This report is a summary of the discussions at the Consumer Arbitration Roundtable held at Pepperdine University on February 2-4, 3012 and co-sponsored by Pepperdine School of Law, The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and Penn State University, Dickinson School of Law. It was prepared by members of the Planning Committee.


The Arbitration Fairness Index: Using A Public Rating System To Skirt The Legal Logjam And Promote Fairer And More Effective Arbitration Of Employment And Consumer Disputes, Thomas J. Stipanowich Dec 2011

The Arbitration Fairness Index: Using A Public Rating System To Skirt The Legal Logjam And Promote Fairer And More Effective Arbitration Of Employment And Consumer Disputes, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Thomas J. Stipanowich

Recent Supreme Court decisions have heightened concerns about the degree of effective judicial oversight of consumer and employment arbitration under binding predispute agreements. Efforts to address such concerns are largely stymied by a political logjam. Because binding arbitration serves as the adjudicative backdrop for many kinds of consumer disputes or employer-employee conflict, the choice of arbitration and the kind of justice available under arbitration agreements may be every bit as important as consumer warranties and other substantive rights and remedies. Yet consumers and employees tend to know very little about arbitration and how it affects their rights and obligations; arbitration …


Revelation And Reaction: The Struggle To Shape American Arbitration, Thomas J. Stipanowich Dec 2010

Revelation And Reaction: The Struggle To Shape American Arbitration, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Thomas J. Stipanowich

In this article, Professor Stipanowich explores recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the implications for the respective domains of courts of law and arbitration tribunals regarding so-called “gateway” determinations surrounding the enforcement of arbitration agreements and the contracts of which they are a part. The decisions address the complex interplay between federal substantive law focusing on questions of arbitrability, a body of law defined and expanded by the Court under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), and the law of the states and bring into play competing judicial philosophies of contractual assent and contrasting views about the balance between …


The Third Arbitration Trilogy: Stolt-Nielsen, Rent-A-Center, Concepcion And The Future Of American Arbitration, Thomas J. Stipanowich Dec 2010

The Third Arbitration Trilogy: Stolt-Nielsen, Rent-A-Center, Concepcion And The Future Of American Arbitration, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Thomas J. Stipanowich

For the third time in the modern era, a triad of key Supreme Court decisions represents a milestone in American arbitration. In this highly controversial “Third Arbitration Trilogy,” the U.S. Supreme Court aggressively expands the “revealed” penumbra of substantive arbitration law under the Federal Arbitration Act and shores up the bulwarks of private, binding dispute resolution under standardized contracts of adhesion binding employees and consumers. In Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds International, 130 S. Ct. 1758 (2010), the Court, against the backdrop of an international commercial contract scheme and a unique procedural scenario, draws upon the wellspring of divined “federal substantive …


Arbitration: The "New Litigation", Thomas J. Stipanowich Dec 2009

Arbitration: The "New Litigation", Thomas J. Stipanowich

Thomas J. Stipanowich

Today, binding arbitration procedures are employed in a wider variety of contracts than at any time in our nation's history, and arbitration has become a wide-ranging surrogate for court trial of civil disputes. As a result, arbitration is subjected to unprecedented stresses and strains, and it is fair to say that arbitration has never been subject to wider criticism. Once advocates promoted arbitration as a means of avoiding the contention, cost and expense of court trial; economy, efficiency and the opportunity to fashion true alternatives to litigation are still associated with conventional perceptions of arbitration. Yet today business arbitration is …