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Amending Maine's Plain Language Law To Ensure Complete Disclosure To Consumers Signing Arbitration Contracts, Andrew R. Sarapas

Maine Law Review

Arbitration has been defined as an informal procedure used by disputants to resolve their differences in a forum other than a court of law. By agreeing to arbitration, the parties submit their disputes to selected arbitrators, whose reasoning and final decisions or awards supplant the judgment of the established judicial tribunals. Further, the decisions of arbitrators are usually binding and enforceable in courts. Although arbitration has been lauded for being less expensive and time-consuming than litigation, consumers arbitrating disputes with large companies may not be playing on a level field. It is important, however, to distinguish arbitration from mediation. Arbitrators, …