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Punitive Damages In New York Arbitration: Who Is Really Being Punished - Barbier V. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. , Brian R. Hajicek

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Promotion of settlement to reduce litigation is a well-established policy goal in our federal court system.2 However, when parties cannot resolve all of their disputes in alternative dispute resolution, this policy goal is undermined. In arbitration governed by the law of the state of New York, parties are generally unable to resolve all of their disputes in arbitration when punitive damages would be warranted. In most cases, the parties' dispute cannot be fully resolved where punitive damages would be available because an arbiter is not free to award punitive damages in arbitration under New York law. This is particularly troublesome …