Law Commons^™

Disputes Related To Healthcare Across National Boundaries: The Potential For Arbitration, Deth Sao

Deth Sao

Trade in international health services has the potential to play a leading role in the global economy, but its rapid growth is impeded by legal barriers. Advances in technology and cross-border movement of people and health services create legal ambiguities and uncertainties for businesses and consumers involved in transnational medical malpractice disputes. Existing legal protections and remedies afforded by traditional judicial frameworks are unable to resolve the following challenges: (1) assertion of personal jurisdiction; (2) choice of forum and law considerations; (3) appropriate theories of liability for injuries and damages arising from innovations in medical care and delivery of health …

Speaker, “Fighting For The Debtor’S Soul: Church Autonomy, Religious Arbitration And Bankruptcy’S Automatic Stay”, Michael Helfand

Michael A Helfand

No abstract provided.

Construction Law, Christopher G. Hill

University of Richmond Law Review

This article will review recent case law and legislative enactments in Virginia of significance to Virginia's contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers and design professionals. The article will also discuss the growing sustainable or "green" building trend in Virginia and elsewhere and the potential issues that this relatively new phenomenon will raise.

How The Payday Predator Hides Among Us: The Predatory Nature Of The Payday Loan Industry And Its Use Of Consumer Arbitration To Further Discriminatory Lending Practices, Michael A. Satz

Michael A Satz

This Article argues that Payday lending is a predatory lending practice that disproportionately targets minority customers, and that the Payday lending industry utilizes consumer arbitration agreements to further the industry’s discriminatory lending practices. The Article proposes that protections enacted into law to protect military service members from payday lenders should be universally enacted on a national level.

Manifest Disregard And The Imperfect Procedural Justice Of Arbitration, Thomas V. Burch

Scholarly Works

Arbitration is an efficient dispute-resolution system that respects parties’ right to an accurate award. But because arbitration is designed to be efficient, accuracy is not guaranteed. This presents a challenge when courts are asked to confirm or vacate arbitrators’ decisions. Judges dislike approving inaccurate awards, especially in cases where parties have unequal bargaining power. Yet, judges also recognize arbitration’s limited-review principle. So they are forced to balance their desire for accuracy against arbitration’s efficiency policy. Efficiency typically wins at the expense of accurate outcomes.

This Article contends that courts place too much emphasis on the efficiency policy in mandatory arbitration. …

Inherent Jurisdiction And Its Application By Nova Scotiacourts: Metaphysical, Historical Or Pragmatic?, William H. Charles

Dalhousie Law Journal

The author explores the concept of inherent jurisdiction in the context of its use and application by the courts of Nova Scotia. A general in-depth discussion ofthe nature and source(s) of the concept is followed by an examination of three recent Court of Appeal decisions in an effort to determine that court's understanding of inherent jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal's understanding and sense of the concept is then contrasted with its use and application by the trial courts of Nova Scotia over a period of 150 years. The approach of the two levels of court to inherent jurisdiction is compared …

Growing Pains: Building American Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

Growing Pains; Building Arbitration's Legitimacy Through Everyday Arbitral Decisions, John B. Mcarthur

John B McArthur

Arbitration’s rapid growth has come under pressure in recent years. A Supreme Court decision holding that awards under the Federal Arbitration Act cannot be vacated for substantive error even if they clearly are wrong has helped discredit arbitration. Misuse of arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchise settings has led to proposals for radical constriction under the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Facing these challenges, arbitrators need to ensure the quality of their awards by adhering to the rule of law and resisting the temptation to administer a personal brand of justice. They need to discourage silent awards and …

You Promised You Wouldn't Tell: Modifying Arbitration Confidentiality Agreements To Allow Third-Party Access To Prior Arbitration Documents, Gotham Holdings, Heath Grades

Journal of Dispute Resolution

To facilitate the speed, cost-effectiveness, and casual atmosphere of arbitration, it has long been thought that parties must trade in the usual features of the courts, such as precedent, appellate review, and certain evidentiary rules. With the increasing use of arbitration, many parties have begun to demand that some of the comforts that have long accompanied litigation be merged with the benefits of arbitration. Courts have, for the most part, denied such demands. Nevertheless, the Seventh Circuit in Gotham Holdings allowed such a demand by ruling that third parties must have the opportunity to obtain prior arbitration awards and use …

Legislating In The Light: Considering Empirical Data In Crafting Arbitration Reforms, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Consumer advocates and policymakers call for abolition of predispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, while proponents of arbitration claim such abolition would increase companies’ dispute resolution costs, leading to higher prices and interest rates. Policymakers on both sides of the debate, however, rarely consider the empirical research necessary for crafting informed arbitration disclosure rules. This article therefore focuses on how varied research, including my own empirical studies, may inform policies regarding arbitration disclosure regulations. The article also offers suggestions for regulations tailored to have the most impact for the cost in light of this research.

Union Refusal To Arbitrate: Pyett's Unanswered Question, F. Ryan Van Pelt

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Kravar v. Triangle Services, Inc., provides the most workable solution to date, balancing competing union, employer, and employee interests. Kravar gives an employee access to federal court, as a matter of right, in the face of union refusal to arbitrate his or her federal statutory claims.8 Although the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York offered little discussion of the policy behind its new rule, there are sound policy rationales underlying it.

Marriage Pluralism In The United States: On Civil And Religious Jurisdiction And The Demands Of Equal Citizenship, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

“Legal pluralism” is hot, particularly in family law. As family law and practice in the United States have become global due to the globalization of the family, some argue it is time for U.S. family law to embrace more legal pluralism so that civil government would cede jurisdictional authority over marriage and divorce law to religious communities. They point to forms of pluralism already present in U.S. family law, such as covenant marriage (available in three states) and New York’s get statutes. They suggest the U.S. should learn from how many other nations allocate jurisdiction over marriage and divorce law …

Civil Rights Claims & Unaffordable Arbitration: Lack Of Employee Access To Arbitration, Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

The decision by the New York Court of Appeals in Brady v. The Williams Capital Group, L.P., 2010 WL 1068163 (N.Y. Mar. 25, 2010) should cause us to note that some employer mandated arbitration agreements not only take away an employee’s right to sue the employer in court, but as well, impose arbitration costs\expenses on the employee. The employee who lacks funds is unable to make use of the arbitration process. An arbitration provision is not rendered inherently unconscionable because some of the arbitration costs will be imposed on the claimant. See Zobrist v. Verizon Wireless, 354 Ill. App. 3d …

A New Board Policy On Deferral To Arbitration: Acknowledging And Delimiting Union Waiver Of Employee Statutory Rights, Michael C. Harper

Faculty Scholarship

This article considers the extent to which the National Labor Relations Board should defer in its protection of statutory rights to the private arbitration process under collective bargaining. The article explains and criticizes the theory of implied union waiver advanced by the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals under the leadership of Judge Harry Edwards. It posits a reformulation of Board deferral doctrine for waivable substantive rights. The article also consider the relevance of the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in 14 Penn Plaza, LLC v. Pyett to Board deferral to arbitration in cases involving § 7 rights that are …

Pizza-Box Contracts: True Tales Of Consumer Contracting Culture, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Do you ask for contract or purchase terms prior to completing your everyday purchases? Do you first read the pizza box before paying the pizza delivery guy or gal? Typical consumers do not ask for or read their contracts prepurchase, and companies have become accustomed to burying purchase terms in product packaging or Internet links. These postpurchase, rolling, or “pizza-box” contracts have therefore become the norm in the consumer marketplace, and courts generally enforce them as legitimate contracts. This Article discusses varying theoretical perspectives on enforcement of these pizza-box contracts, and explores the available empirical data bearing on the legitimacy …

Drawing The Right Lessons From Icsid Jurisprudence On The Doctrine Of Necessity, Amin George Forji

Amin George Forji

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) have over the years injected an important dynamic into public international law, that is, the replacement of a political remedy (peaceful cooperation amongst nations) by a legal one (settlement of investment disputes). The institution of ICSID and the revision of BITs in line with its rules have opened the way for direct investors’ claims and investor-state arbitration. The obvious implication of a compulsory arbitration provision is that it has made up for many shortcomings of the diplomatic protection mechanism with, “the potential for an individual …

Comparing Arbitrators' Standards Of Conduct, Omar E. Garcia-Bolivar

Omar E Garcia-Bolivar

This article compares the standard of conduct applicable to arbitrators in different types of international arbitration.

Employee Free Choice Or Employee Forged Choice? Race In The Mirror Of Exclusionary Hierarchy, Harry G. Hutchinson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is arguably the most transformative piece of labor legislation to come before Congress since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA). One of the newest attempts to transform labor relations is the EFCA. The first to disappear under the EFCA would be a system of union democracy whereby unions could only obtain the rights of exclusive representation for firms if they could prevail in a secret-ballot election. Second, the EFCA would eliminate tile necessity of a freely negotiated collective bargaining agreement between management and labor and instead substitute compulsory arbitration. …

Foreclosure By Arbitration?, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

The recession and the drastic decline in home values have combined to trigger a wave of foreclosures. Predictably, legislators, policymakers, scholars, and consumer advocates have responded with a wide range of proposals designed to protect distressed mortgagors from losing their homes.

‘Drive-Thru’ Arbitration In The Digital Age: Empowering Consumers Through Regulated Odr, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) has been promoted for quickly and conveniently resolving claims using online “drive-thru” processes instead of more costly and time-consuming face-to-face meetings and hearings. Most commentators have nonetheless focused mainly on non-binding or automated bidding processes, perhaps due in part to fairness concerns associated with off-line arbitration. This Article, however, explores the potential for online binding arbitration (OArb), and sheds new light on arbitration as means for empowering consumers to obtain remedies on their e-merchant claims. By moving arbitration online, OArb helps address concerns regarding companies’ use of arbitration clauses to curb consumers’ access to remedies on …