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Arbitration agreements

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Law Triangle: Arbitrating International Reinsurance Disputes, J. L. Murphy Jan 2008

Law Triangle: Arbitrating International Reinsurance Disputes, J. L. Murphy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The McCarran-Ferguson Act was enacted to preserve the longstanding prerogative of the States to regulate the insurance industry. States have acted in accordance with this statute to declare arbitration agreements in insurance contracts invalid. However, the Senate has since ratified the New York Convention and appended implementing legislation to the Federal Arbitration Act that obligates domestic courts to recognize arbitration agreements in all international contracts. In an odd convergence of authority, a functional conflict arises between these three bodies of law: the federal law says that state law controls in this area, even over other federal law that might incidentally …


Suing For Small Potatoes: Consumer Class Action Waivers In Arbitration Agreements Distinguished By The Ninth Circuit, Jaimee Conley Jan 2008

Suing For Small Potatoes: Consumer Class Action Waivers In Arbitration Agreements Distinguished By The Ninth Circuit, Jaimee Conley

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Shroyer, the Ninth Circuit laid a foundation for looking at consumer class action arbitration waivers with greater scrutiny, using a much narrower test. In doing so, it communicates a clear message to large corporations that arbitration agreements that include class action waivers for the purpose of cheating consumers out of small amounts of money will not be tolerated. This case note will address the significance of the Ninth Circuit's decision and the policy arguments supporting such an approach.


New Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Federal Preemption, Contract Unconscionability, And Agreements To Arbitrate, The, Steven J. Burton Jul 2006

New Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Federal Preemption, Contract Unconscionability, And Agreements To Arbitrate, The, Steven J. Burton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Part I of this Article sketches the basics of arbitration law and practice, and traces the development of the federal policy favoring arbitration, to establish a basis for evaluating contemporary judicial decisions. Part II examines the justification for the policy favoring arbitration and the reasons contracting parties may prefer arbitration. Part III evaluates the reasons courts give for finding arbitration agreements in employment and consumer contexts unconscionable, and therefore, unenforceable. The conclusion is that many courts make many clearly erroneous decisions, including decisions that are unconstitutional because they are preempted.


Interlocutory Appeals Under The Federal Arbitration Act And The Effect On The District Court’S Proceedings, Michael P. Winkler Jan 2006

Interlocutory Appeals Under The Federal Arbitration Act And The Effect On The District Court’S Proceedings, Michael P. Winkler

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.


Parties To International Commercial Arbitration Agreements Beware: Bankruptcy Trumps Supreme Court Precedent Favoring Arbitration Of International Disputes, Lindsay Biesterfeld Jan 2006

Parties To International Commercial Arbitration Agreements Beware: Bankruptcy Trumps Supreme Court Precedent Favoring Arbitration Of International Disputes, Lindsay Biesterfeld

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Phillips v. Congelton (In re White Mountain Mining Co.), presents a heightened version of the conflict between the general policy favoring enforcement of arbitration agreements and the policy favoring resolution of bankruptcy-related claims in the bankruptcy court proceedings as the case involves a dispute over the enforcement of an international agreement to arbitrate a claim that is a "core" bankruptcy proceeding. In Phillips, the Fourth Circuit analyzed the underlying purposes of both the bankruptcy code and the federal arbitration statutes, and resolved the conflicting purposes of the two by giving greater deference to the policy favoring resolution of bankruptcy-related claims …


Roadmap To Securities Adr, Constantine N. Katsoris Jan 2006

Roadmap To Securities Adr, Constantine N. Katsoris

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.


Pro-Arbitration Policy: Is This What The Parties Really Intended - The Courts' Treatment Of Forum Selection Clauses In Arbitration Agreements, The, Lance Roskens Jul 2005

Pro-Arbitration Policy: Is This What The Parties Really Intended - The Courts' Treatment Of Forum Selection Clauses In Arbitration Agreements, The, Lance Roskens

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In today's global economy, it is not uncommon for parties from different locations to contract together both in commerce and in employment. Especially in the context of employers, one party will often want any and all disputes it has with its employees to be resolved via arbitration in a certain forum. To accomplish this, employers often include a forum selection clause in the arbitration agreement with the future employee. Thus, if and how courts address forum selection clauses is of paramount importance to employers. In Sterling Financial Investment Group, Inc. v. Hammer, the 11 th Circuit Court of Appeals were …


On Hostile Ground: Ohio's Notice To Insolvent Insurance Companies With Arbitration Agreements - Bejamin V. Pipoly, Frank C. Koranda Jr. Jul 2004

On Hostile Ground: Ohio's Notice To Insolvent Insurance Companies With Arbitration Agreements - Bejamin V. Pipoly, Frank C. Koranda Jr.

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Benjamin v. Popoly, the Court of Appeals of Ohio reviewed whether the liquidator of an insolvent insurance company have the power to avoid the enforcement of arbitration agreements. The court held that the broad statutory power conferred to a liquidator permitted them to affirm or disavow any contracts made by the insolvent insurance companies, including any contractual provisions for the arbitration of disputes. The court also expressly overruled prior Ohio case law regarding the status of arbitration agreements in insurance insolvency.


Questions About The Efficiency Of Employment Arbitration Agreements, Matthew T. Bodie Jan 2004

Questions About The Efficiency Of Employment Arbitration Agreements, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

The growing popularity of arbitration agreements is well-documented. The academic literature on these agreements has been largely critical, arguing that they jeopardize important rights and enable employers to take unfair advantage of employees and consumers. However, standard economic analysis suggests that since these agreements are freely negotiated, they presumably increase the utility of both parties and are therefore efficient. This Article raises questions about the efficiency of such agreements in the employment context. It begins by modeling the decision-making process by which a rational employee would judge the desirability of an agreement, both after and before a dispute has arisen. …


Arbitration, Unconscionability, And Equilibrium: The Return Of Unconscionability Analysis As A Counterweight To Arbitration Formalism, Jeffrey W. Stempel Jan 2004

Arbitration, Unconscionability, And Equilibrium: The Return Of Unconscionability Analysis As A Counterweight To Arbitration Formalism, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

However incomplete, unaggressive, or sub-optimal, unconscionability analysis of arbitration agreements has made something of a comeback in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, water seeks to be level, and ecosystems work to retain environmental stability, the legal system has witnessed an incremental effort by lower courts to soften the rough edges of the Supreme Court's pro-arbitration jurisprudence through rediscovery of what might be called the “unconscionability norm”--a collective judicial view as to what aspects of an arbitration arrangement are too unfair to merit judicial enforcement. In rediscovering and reinvigorating the unconscionability norm …


Going Dutch: Should Employees Have To Split The Costs Of Arbitration In Disputes Arising From Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements - Morrison V. Circuit City Stores, Inc., John F. Crawford Jan 2004

Going Dutch: Should Employees Have To Split The Costs Of Arbitration In Disputes Arising From Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements - Morrison V. Circuit City Stores, Inc., John F. Crawford

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Employers often require their employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment, obligating employees to submit their disputes with employers to binding arbitration. These agreements may include terms, such as cost splitting provisions, that may be advantageous to the employer, but extremely limiting to an employee seeking to enforce her statutory rights. The United States Supreme Court has yet to set out a clear position about whether an employee, by signed agreement, can be required to pay all or part of the arbitration fees and costs when the employee submits a statutory claim to arbitration. Federal district courts …


Questions About The Efficiency Of Employment Arbitration Agreements, Matthew T. Bodie Jan 2003

Questions About The Efficiency Of Employment Arbitration Agreements, Matthew T. Bodie

All Faculty Scholarship

The growing popularity of arbitration agreements is well-documented. The academic literature on these agreements has been largely critical, arguing that they jeopardize important rights and enable employers to take unfair advantage of employees and consumers. However, standard economic analysis suggests that since these agreements are freely negotiated, they presumably increase the utility of both parties and are therefore efficient. This Article raises questions about the efficiency of such agreements in the employment context. It begins by modeling the decision-making process by which a rational employee would judge the desirability of an agreement, both after and before a dispute has arisen. …


To Sever Or To Destroy: The Eighth Circuit Allows Invalid Provisions To Be Served From Otherwise Enforceable Arbitration Agreements, Michael K. Daming Jul 2002

To Sever Or To Destroy: The Eighth Circuit Allows Invalid Provisions To Be Served From Otherwise Enforceable Arbitration Agreements, Michael K. Daming

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") allows for arbitration to be a medium by which parties may settle disputes more expeditiously than litigation. The FAA declares specifically that written agreements to resolve disputes through arbitration are "valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.,' 2


Arbitration Agreements In Labor And Employment Contracts: Well Within The Reach Of The Faa - Circuit City Stores, Inc. V. Adams, Lisa M. Eaton Jan 2002

Arbitration Agreements In Labor And Employment Contracts: Well Within The Reach Of The Faa - Circuit City Stores, Inc. V. Adams, Lisa M. Eaton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Despite a series of decisions where the Supreme Court has upheld the use of arbitration in the employment context, the Court has never clearly stated that arbitration agreements contained in employment contracts fall under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). This omission has led to a split in the Circuits as to the scope of the FAA coverage ad exemption provisions. The controversy centers on whether the FAA covers all employment contracts except those of employees who transport people or goods in interstate commerce or whether the FAA exempts all employment contracts.


Paying The Price Of Process: Judicial Regulation Of Consumer Arbitration Agreements, Stephen J. Ware Jan 2001

Paying The Price Of Process: Judicial Regulation Of Consumer Arbitration Agreements, Stephen J. Ware

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arbitration clauses now appear in many of the form contracts through which consumers obtain goods, services and credit.' Why do so many businesses that deal with consumers choose arbitration? Relative to litigation, arbitration provides opportunities for a business to save on its dispute-resolution costs. If arbitration does, in fact, lower these costs then arbitration lowers the prices (and interest rates) consumers pay because competition forces businesses to pass their cost-savings on to consumers.


Agreements To Waive Or To Arbitrate Legal Claims: An Economic Analysis, Keith N. Hylton Jan 2000

Agreements To Waive Or To Arbitrate Legal Claims: An Economic Analysis, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

As arbitration agreements have grown in use, they have become controversial, with many critics describing them as a disguised form of waiver. This paper presents an economic analysis of waiver and arbitiation agreements and applies this analysis to the evolving arbitration case law in the Supreme Court and elsewhere. The paper examines the conditions under which parties have an incentive to enter into these types of agreement, and their welfare implications. It shows that, if parties are well informed, they will enter into waiver agreements when and only when litigation is socially undesirable, in the sense that the deterrence benefits …


Fallacy Of Duffield V. Robertson And Rosenberg V. Merrill Lynch: The Continuing Viability Of Mandatory Pre-Dispute Title Vii Arbitration Agreements In The Post-Civil Rights Act Of 1991 Era, The, Kristen Decker, William Krizner Jul 1998

Fallacy Of Duffield V. Robertson And Rosenberg V. Merrill Lynch: The Continuing Viability Of Mandatory Pre-Dispute Title Vii Arbitration Agreements In The Post-Civil Rights Act Of 1991 Era, The, Kristen Decker, William Krizner

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Two recent decisions, one in the Ninth Circuit and one in a Massachusetts District Court, have erroneously held that mandatory Title VII pre-dispute arbitration clauses are unenforceable under the Civil Rights Act of 1991.' A statutory construction analysis of the 1991 Civil Rights Act demonstrates that Congress did not intend to abolish the use of such clauses. Instead, Congress intended to support the use of mandatory pre-dispute arbitration as a valid and useful forum for the resolution of disputes arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The purpose of the following Article is twofold. First, this …


Compulsory Arbitration Agreements In Employment Contracts From Gardner-Denver To Austin: The Legal Uncertainty And Why Employers Should Choose Not To Use Preemployment Arbitration Agreements, John-Paul Motley Apr 1998

Compulsory Arbitration Agreements In Employment Contracts From Gardner-Denver To Austin: The Legal Uncertainty And Why Employers Should Choose Not To Use Preemployment Arbitration Agreements, John-Paul Motley

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. the Supreme Court enforced a mandatory arbitration clause in a securities registration application and barred the employee from seeking relief in federal court for his Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") claim.' Since the Court's decision compelling arbitration of an employee's statutory claim, labor and employment lawyers have encouraged employers to include binding arbitration clauses covering all potential employer-employee claims in employment applications, handbooks, and collective bargaining agreements ("CBAs"). As one commentator wrote after the Gilmer decision, "[t]he only thing remaining is for employers to begin writing compulsory arbitration clauses into their employment contracts." …


Arbitration Agreements: Should A Union Be Allowed To Make Collective Bargaining Agreements That Bind Individuals' Federal Statutory Claims To Arbitration - Brisentine V. Stone & (And) Webster Engineering Corp., Troy Groat Jan 1998

Arbitration Agreements: Should A Union Be Allowed To Make Collective Bargaining Agreements That Bind Individuals' Federal Statutory Claims To Arbitration - Brisentine V. Stone & (And) Webster Engineering Corp., Troy Groat

Journal of Dispute Resolution

With the constant increase of employment litigation2 among individuals, unions and companies, the use of arbitration clauses continues to grow each day. While it is clear that arbitration clauses can be beneficial, it is not clear when and in what situations they should be binding, and hence, waive the rights of parties to have their day in court. Against this backdrop, the Brisentine court faced the issue of whether a union, when making a collective bargaining agreement, can bind individual employee's federal statutory rights to arbitration


Arbitration Agreements: Standard Of Review, Interpretation And Who Is Bound - Kenamerican Resources, Inc. V. International Union, United Mine Workers Of America, Shea Welch Jul 1997

Arbitration Agreements: Standard Of Review, Interpretation And Who Is Bound - Kenamerican Resources, Inc. V. International Union, United Mine Workers Of America, Shea Welch

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In KenAmerican Resources, Inc. v. International Union, United Mine Workers of America, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that a corporation which did not sign an arbitration agreement entered into by an individual who owned both that company, KenAmerican Resources, Inc., and the company that was clearly bound to the arbitration agreement, Ohio Valley Resources, Inc., was not bound by the arbitration agreement. 2 This was because the agent who signed the agreement, Robert Murray, was not acting on KenAmerican's behalf.3


U.S. Supreme Court Subordinates Enforcement Of Regulatory Statutes To Enforcement Of Arbitration Agreements, Christine L. Davitz Jan 1997

U.S. Supreme Court Subordinates Enforcement Of Regulatory Statutes To Enforcement Of Arbitration Agreements, Christine L. Davitz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Through a series of cases culminating with Vimar Seguros Y Reaseguros v. M/V Sky Reefer, the U.S. Supreme Court has developed a strong pro-arbitration stance regarding disputes arising out of international commercial contracts. This Note analyzes the Court's reasons for this stance and compares those reasons with the history and purposes of the Federal Arbitration Act and the New York Convention. The author concludes that the Court's reasons are at odds with the FAA and the New York Convention. The Note further articulates the dangers posed to U.S. public policies that are created by allowing arbitration of statutory claims. The …


Physician-Patient Arbitration Agreements: Procedural Safeguards May Not Be Enough - Buraczynski V. Eyring, Jennifer Gillespie Jan 1997

Physician-Patient Arbitration Agreements: Procedural Safeguards May Not Be Enough - Buraczynski V. Eyring, Jennifer Gillespie

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Insurance companies and physicians increasingly are requiring medical malpractice claims to be settled by arbitration.2 As a result, many patients are being presented with a new choice when they enter their doctor's office: Sign an arbitration agreement or forgo treatment with their physician. In Buraczynski v. Eyring, the physician required the patients to sign an arbitration agreement prior to performing medical services for them? The agreement contained provisions designed to ensure that the patient made an informed decision before consenting to the agreement.4 But what if there were no other doctors available if the patient chose not to sign?


Public Policy Exception: A Narrow Exception To Judicial Review Or An Independent Means Of Avoiding Arbitration Agreements - Exxon Corp. V. Baton Rouge Oil And Chemical Workers Union, The, Elizabeth Tenorio Jan 1997

Public Policy Exception: A Narrow Exception To Judicial Review Or An Independent Means Of Avoiding Arbitration Agreements - Exxon Corp. V. Baton Rouge Oil And Chemical Workers Union, The, Elizabeth Tenorio

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The Federal Arbitration Act advances a strong desire to encourage parties in labor management disputes to utilize arbitration in lieu of litigation.' For this reason, judicial review of an arbitrator's award is construed narrowly by three specific provisions? In recent years, a public policy exception to this strict standard of review has developed,4 and its use has exploded. This Note discusses the impact of this public policy exception on both arbitration and judicial forums. In addition, this Note highlights the potential for abuse when the exception is not limited and applied with care.


Retroactive Application Of Rule Changes: Arbitration Agreements May Be Circumvented - Nielsen V. Greenwood, Douglas M. Worley Jan 1996

Retroactive Application Of Rule Changes: Arbitration Agreements May Be Circumvented - Nielsen V. Greenwood, Douglas M. Worley

Journal of Dispute Resolution

From early historical jurisprudence, courts have recognized the "timeless and universal human appeal"2 of the presumption against the retroactive application of newly enacted statutes and rules. This principle, as a result, has perpetually been "a solid foundation of American law."3 In Nielsen, however, the court challenged this principle and retroactively applied a National Association of Security Dealer's ("NASD") rule change barring any agreements to arbitrate putative class actions.4 Effectively distinguishing this case from precedent which arrived at a different result, the Nielsen decision remains consistent with relevant precedent and, significantly, does not violate fundamental notions of justice.


Bootstrapping And Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Arbitral Infatuation And The Decline Of Consent, Jeffrey W. Stempel Jan 1996

Bootstrapping And Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Arbitral Infatuation And The Decline Of Consent, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The Seventh Amendment to the Constitution preserves for litigants a right to a jury trial in actions at law. The right to a jury trial does not attach for equitable actions, but in cases presenting claims for both legal and equitable relief a right to a jury trial exists for common questions of fact. Although many modern statutes and claims did not exist in 1791, the Amendment has been interpreted to require a jury trial of statutory claims seeking monetary damages, the classic form of legal relief, so long as there is a relatively apt analogy between the modern statutory …


Title Vii Arbitration, Patrick O. Gudridge Jan 1995

Title Vii Arbitration, Patrick O. Gudridge

Articles

Supreme Court decisions establish two separate lines of analysis concerning whether arbitration agreements should pre-empt judicial remedies for parties already covered by employment and labor legislation. First, in cases like Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Corp., the Supreme Court espouses a procedural analysis: the Court considers the extent to which the arbitration procedures reflect judicial processes. In Alexander v. Gardner-Denver and its successors, on the other hand, the Court examines whether the applicable statutes explicitly pre-empt the arbitration agreement. This article argues that neither approach is helpful. Rather, 'courts should consider whether the relevant statute applies standards derived essentially from "inside" …


Court Lets Go Of The Reins: Runaway Escrow Agent Binds Principals To Arbitration Agreement - 99 Commercial Street, Inc. V. Goldberg, Karen E. Martin Jul 1994

Court Lets Go Of The Reins: Runaway Escrow Agent Binds Principals To Arbitration Agreement - 99 Commercial Street, Inc. V. Goldberg, Karen E. Martin

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arbitration agreements are a step in the right direction for alternate dispute resolution. Obviously, before a court can grant a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to such an agreement, it must find that both parties are, indeed, bound by that agreement.' Although a traditional contract law analysis is ordinarily used to determine who is bound to a contract containing an arbitration provision, when an escrow agent acting on behalf of one party to a contract binds that party to an agreement to arbitrate, traditional contract law analysis must be altered to take into account the extent of an escrow agent's …


Finding The Parameters: The Scope Of Arbitration Agreements In Medical Service Contracts In California - Pietrelli V. Peacock, Mark Riley Kroeker Jan 1994

Finding The Parameters: The Scope Of Arbitration Agreements In Medical Service Contracts In California - Pietrelli V. Peacock, Mark Riley Kroeker

Journal of Dispute Resolution

There is perhaps no better indicator of the general perception of "crisis" in the American medical system than the lavish attention given President Clinton's health care reform initiatives in the media.2 In the 1970s, the frequency of medical malpractice claims and the cost of malpractice insurance, two sources of this perceived crisis, came into sharp focus.3 Experiencing a decline in profits as a result of increased malpractice litigation, many insurers began refusing to provide coverage or demanding high premium increases.4 This created a problem in malpractice insurance availability to health care providers.5 Health care providers, insurers, and state legislatures responded …


A Better Approach To Arbitrability, Jeffrey W. Stempel Jan 1991

A Better Approach To Arbitrability, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Historically, Anglo-American courts refused to enforce arbitration agreements, jealously guarding their dispute resolution monopoly. During the early twentieth century, merchants and attorneys began seeking legislation requiring courts to defer to arbitration. The United States Abitration Act took effect January 1, 1926 and has remained essentially unchanged. It was written with the implicit assumption that it would be invoked by commercial actors having relatively equal bargaining power and emotive appeal to a jury. The Act says nothing to direct the court's inquiry concerning the quality of either party's assent to the arbitration clause other than requiring a written arbitration agreement and …


Enforcing International Arbitration Agreements - Marchetto V. Dekalb Genetics Corp., Karen L. Massey Jul 1990

Enforcing International Arbitration Agreements - Marchetto V. Dekalb Genetics Corp., Karen L. Massey

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The importance, magnitude and frequency of international business transactions have necessitated finding an acceptable method of resolving disputes arising from such transactions. Parties to international commercial transactions often come from nations with cultures and legal systems which are greatly diverse.2 Arbitration agreements in international commercial contracts are a preferred manner of resolving disputes.3 Arbitration is a method of providing orderliness and predictability in an area in which it is necessary, but often difficult to achieve.4 In order for the arbitration system to work, courts of law must be willing to relinquish their jurisdiction and allow the arbitration system to resolve …