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Full-Text Articles in Law

Opting Out Of Liability: The Forthcoming, Near-Total Demise Of The Modern Class Action, Myriam Gilles Dec 2005

Opting Out Of Liability: The Forthcoming, Near-Total Demise Of The Modern Class Action, Myriam Gilles

Michigan Law Review

It is reasonable to expect that courts will demonstrate great solicitude for the recent innovation that I term "collective action waivers" - i.e., contractual provisions contained within arbitration agreements whereby consumers and others waive their rights to participate in any form of collective litigation or class arbitration. The history of mass tort class actions and the hegemonic expansion of pro-arbitration jurisprudence compel this conclusion. And, as the now-dominant economic model of contract law has moved the focus of courts from the value of consent to the value of efficiency, arbitration agreements found in all manner of shrink-wrap, scroll-text and bill-stuffer …


Rules For A New Game: Finding A Workable Solution For Applying Class Actions To The Arbitration Process, Andrew Remy Norton Jul 2005

Rules For A New Game: Finding A Workable Solution For Applying Class Actions To The Arbitration Process, Andrew Remy Norton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In 2003, the Supreme Court's decision in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, indicated that class-wide arbitration was permissible. As a result the number of cases of class-wide arbitration is likely to increase. Because of the few courts that have actually employed class-wide arbitration it has not been definitively settled as to how the hybrid procedure should be conducted. One school of thought emphasizes the class members' due process rights, while another argues that maintaining the integrity of the arbitration process should be a priority. This casenote analyzes the two separate theories and attempts to devise a workable solution for …


From "Predominance" To "Resolvability": A New Approach To Regulating Class Actions, Allan Erbsen May 2005

From "Predominance" To "Resolvability": A New Approach To Regulating Class Actions, Allan Erbsen

Vanderbilt Law Review

Class actions incite both delight and disgust. Several complementary themes in popular culture embrace the class action, including sympathy for underdog litigants challenging powerful malefactors, fascination with massive redistributions of wealth from corporations to individuals, and reluctance to permit large and influential wrongdoers to escape justice merely because of their size and clout. Class actions have thus become an appealing procedural counterweight to the burdens that modern society imposes on consumers and citizens, giving many little Davids a fighting chance for protection from or retribution against political and economic Goliaths. But class actions also expose and rile competing visions of …