Law Commons^™

Vacatur Of Arbitration Awards: The Poor Loser Problem Or Loser Pays?, Stanley A. Leasure

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

In B. L. Harbert International, LLC. v. Hercules Steel Co., decided in February 2006, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals took the opportunity to express its "exasperation" with the growing tendency of losing parties in arbitration disputes to take a "never-say-die attitude" in the pursuit of vacatur of arbitral decisions "without any real legal basis for doing so" and its concern for the concomitant threat to the underlying purposes of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).

Applying the Harbert "any real legal basis" requirement raises several concerns that can be assuaged only by courts' commitment to focus on balancing following two …

Ibeto Petrochemical Industries Ltd V. M/T Beffen, 475 F. 3d 56 - Court Of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2007, Roger J. Miner '56

Circuit Court Opinions

Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant Ibeto Petrochemical Industries Limited ("Ibeto") appeals from an Order entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Scheindlin, J.) in an action arising out of the contamination by seawater of a shipment of oil being carried by motor tanker. The Order granted the motions of Defendant-Appellee M/T Beffen, Her Engines, Tackles, Boiler, etc. (in rem) ("the Beffen") and Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee Bryggen Shipping and Trading A/S (in personam) ("Bryggen") (collectively "defendants") to stay this action, to compel arbitration, and to enjoin an action pending in Nigeria. The Order also denied Ibeto's motion for voluntary …

Origin, Scope, And Irrevocability Of The Manifest Disregard Of The Law Doctrine: Second Circuit Views, Christian Turner, Joshua Ratner

Scholarly Works

After arbitration has occurred, parties may seek judicial enforcement of the arbitral award, converting the private determination into an enforceable judgment. Parties that did not prevail in the arbitration may, at the same time, seek to have the arbitral award vacated. This article concerns the doctrine that permits courts to vacate an arbitral award when the arbitrators “manifestly disregarded” the law, focusing on recent developments in the Second Circuit. Despite the exceedingly deferential scope of this doctrine, the Second Circuit has actually vacated a handful of arbitrations on grounds of manifest disregard, and the doctrine is routinely raised by litigants. …

Designer Trials, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article considers the intersection of freedom of contract and the trials that have not vanished. Could contracting parties effectively agree in advance of a dispute that any litigation of the case will comply with certain rules? Would such an agreement be enforced even in a contract of adhesion? If so, parties with sufficient bargaining leverage could design away many of the characteristics of litigation that they find unappealing, without the need to resort to private processes. The result: a designer trial with the procedural deck stacked in favor of the party with the greatest pre-dispute bargaining power.

Such a …

A Survival Guide For Small Businesses: Avoiding The Pitfalls In International Dispute Resolution, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In the past decade, the number of small, entrepreneurial businesses participating in the global economy has tripled. With this increase comes a rise in the number of cross-border commercial disputes. The unwary small business, not familiar with international transactions, may commit errors that adversely affect their ability to do and stay in business. This article focuses on analyzing which methods small businesses should use in constructing their dispute resolution provisions and how to avoid errors in drafting and negotiation.

The Place Of Court-Connected Mediation In A Democratic Justice System, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

A justice system, and the processes located within it, ought to deliver justice. That seems simple enough. But, of course, delivering justice is never so simple. Justice and the systems that serve it are the creatures of context.

This Article considers mediation as just one innovation within the much larger evolution of the judicial system of the United States. First, this Article outlines how the values of democratic governance undergird our traditional picture of the American justice system, presumably because the invocation of such values helps the system to deliver something that will be respected by the nation’s citizens as …

Contracting With Tortfeasors: Mandatory Arbitration Clauses And Personal Injury Claims, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

People thinking about contractual arbitration clauses usually envision the resulting disputes as contractual in nature. However, there is also a group of cases in which the clauses are used to compel arbitration of personal injury claims. This article examines those cases, including the impact of the Federal Arbitration Act on their enforcement. Next, the article considers the ways in which these pre-dispute, mandatory arbitration clauses can disturb the traditional values of procedural justice, contractual fairness, and the enforcement of tort-based duties. Finally, the article proposes changes in the law of arbitration and evaluates whether such changes are politically feasible.

On The Importance Of Institutions: Review Of Arbitral Awards For Legal Errors, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

In my view, legislatures, rather than courts or parties, should decide whether (and to what extent) courts should review arbitral awards for errors of law. The optimal legislative mechanism should not be compulsory but should offer parties the choice whether to "opt-in" to this regime of expanded review by inserting language to that effect in their arbitration agreement. A legislative solution with an "opt-in" feature has a sounder doctrinal foundation, better respects the distribution of power between various branches of government, involves a lower risk of error and minimizes transaction costs. From this position, two additional conclusions follow: first, courts …

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance Law in the years 1999 and 2000.

Identifying Real Dichotomies Underlying The False Dichotomy: Twenty-First Century Mediation In An Eclectic Regime, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Some people (lawyers, scholars, judges, dispute resolvers, policymakers) are more concerned about fidelity to procedural protocols while others are more concerned with the substantive rules governing disputes and substantive outcomes. Those in the dispute resolution community preferring facilitation tend to be proceduralists. For them, the observance of proper procedure is a high goal, perhaps the dominant goal. They reason, often implicitly, that adherence to the rules of procedure is the essence of neutrality, fairness, and the proper role of a dispute resolving apparatus. At some level, usually subconscious, there is a post-modern philosophical aspect of this preference. Because humans cannot …

Contracting Access To The Courts: Myth Or Reality? Bane Or Boon?, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Many scholars of the dispute resolution system perceive a sea change in attitudes toward adjudication that took place in the mid-1970s. Among the events of the time included the Pound Conference, which put the Chief Justice of the United States and the national judicial establishment on record in favor of at least some refinement, if not restriction, on access to courts. In addition, Chief Justice Burger, the driving force behind the Pound Conference, also used his bully pulpit as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to promote ADR, particularly court-annexed arbitration. The availability of judicial adjuncts such as court-annexed arbitration …

New Paradigm, Normal Science, Or Crumbling Construct? Trends In Adjudicatory Procedure And Litigation Reform, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

One aspect of a possible new era is the increasing ad hoc activity of various interest groups, including the bench and the organized bar, primarily pursued through official organizations such as the Judicial Conference, the Federal Judicial Center, the American Bar Association (“ABA”), and the American Law Institute. Traditionally, of course, judges and lawyers have lobbied Congress and state legislatures for litigation change, as demonstrated by the saga of the Rules Enabling Act (“Enabling Act” or “Act”). But, the legal profession's more recent “political” activity regarding litigation reform differs from the traditional model in several ways. First, the participation of …

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 …

Reconsidering The Employment Contract Exclusion In Section 1 Of The Federal Arbitration Act: Correcting The Judiciary's Failure Of Statutory Vision, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The Federal Arbitration Act (the Act), seeks to eliminate centuries of perceived judicial hostility toward arbitration agreements. The Act made written arbitration agreements involving interstate commerce specifically enforceable. It also provided a procedural structure for enforcing awards, which were protected through deferential judicial review. The Act intended to have a wide reach, employing a broad definition of commerce that has presumably grown in breadth along with the expansion of judicial notions of commerce. Although courts applied the Act in tentative and cautious fashion until the 1960's, arbitration gained momentum during the 1970's and the 1980's. Despite growing judicial enthusiasm for …

Report On Survey Of The Bar, Committee On Federal Courts Of The New York State Bar Association

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting A Full Bite Of The Apple: When Should The Doctrine Of Issue Preclusion Make An Administrative Or Arbitral Determination Binding In A Court Of Law?, Jay C. Carlisle

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In recent years, alternative means of dispute resolution have become important resources. Therefore, the question of when the determination of issues at administrative hearings and arbitrations should be granted preclusive effect in subsequent judicial litigations requires critical evaluation. Part I of this Article focuses on the general evolution of issue preclusion in New York. Part II discusses recent New York case law giving preclusive effect to administrative and arbitral issue determinations in subsequent state court proceedings. Part III analyzes the policy reasons for applying issue preclusion to administrative and arbitral issue determinations in such proceedings. Part IV concludes that the …

Commercial Arbitrations And Awards, M. S. Brechenridge

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arbitration As A Judicial Process Of Law. A New Era In Legal Procedure Created By The New York And New Jersey Statutes. The Principles And The Practice Defined, Joseph Wheless

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.