Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Improving The Construction And Litigation Resolution Process: The 2005 Amendments To The Washington Condominium Act Are A Win-Win For Homeowners And Developers, Mark F. O'Donnell, David E. Chawes

Seattle University Law Review

On August 1, 2005, significant amendments to the Washington Condominium Act (WCA) became effective. These amendments were intended to substantially reduce water infiltration in multiunit residential buildings and to simplify the condominium construction dispute resolution process. The heart of the amendments is the implementation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures, as well as fee-shiftingprovisions which require the non-prevailing party to pay the attorney fees and costs of the prevailing party. A decade of lawsuits brought under the WCA by condominium owners associations against builders and developers, and in turn by builders against subcontractors, alleging defects in the ability of the …

Summary Of Koller V. State, 122 Nev. Adv. Op. 20, Amy S. Scarborough

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a writ of prohibition granted by the Third Judicial District Court, State of Nevada.

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 …

The Procedural Soft Law Of International Arbitration, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

The conference organizers set me the daunting task of exploring arbitration's “non-national instruments,” which is to say the guidelines of professional groups and non-governmental organizations related to evidence, conflicts of interest, ethics and the organization of arbitral proceedings. Frequently these procedural standards build on the lore of international dispute resolution as memorialized in articles, treatises and learned symposium papers. These guidelines represent what might be called “soft law,” in distinction to the harder norms imposed by arbitration statutes and treaties, as well as the procedural framework adopted by the parties through choice of pre-established arbitration rules.

The growth of procedural …

Summary Of Nelson V. Heer, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 81, Denise Balboni

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Motion to support a stay pending an appeal by security other than a supersedeas bond.

Summary Of Wood V. Safeway, Inc., 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 73, Michael Shalmy

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A mentally handicapped female working for Safeway Stores, Inc. was sexually assaulted at work by an employee of a company that provided janitorial services for Safeway. The assaults occurred in a storage room and in the parking lot while she was gathering shopping carts. She filed a complaint against Safeway and the janitorial company, Action Cleaning, alleging five causes of action as a result of the sexual assault. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Safeway, determining that Safeway was immune from suit because of coverage provided by the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act (the “NIIA”). The district court …

Summary Of Whealon V. Sterling, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 66, Jarrod Rickard

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appellant agent sought review of a summary judgment from the Eighth Judicial District Court, which ruled in favor of respondent entertainer in a contract dispute.

Summary Of Szydel V. Markman, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 47, Hagar Labouz

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appellant Szydel brought a medical malpractice claim against Dr. Markman after he left a surgical needle inside her breast following a surgical procedure. Szydel and her husband filed a malpractice claim in district court and Dr. Markman moved to dismiss because the complaint was not accompanied by a medical expert’s affidavit, as required by statute. Szydel claimed that her action was filed under Nevada’s res ipsa loquitur statute and thus did not require a medical expert’s affidavit.

Summary Of Kahn V. Morse & Mowbray, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 48, Hagar Labouz

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This action arises out of a business agreement between the Kahns and their son, Eric. The Kahns violated the agreement with Eric by selling their business to their other son, Frank. The Kahns hired Byrd and his firm, Morse & Mowbray, to represent them. Shortly thereafter the parties reached a settlement, and the Kahns reneged on the settlement. Eric filed an action against the Kahns for specific enforcement of the settlement and Byrd and his firm declined to contest Eric’s contentions regarding the settlement. The district court held a hearing for specific enforcement of the settlement and found that all …

Summary Of Lee V. Ball, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 38, Jared R. Gibb

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This case involved an appeal from a district court judgment in a personal injury case, entered pursuant to a jury verdict which initially awarded the plaintiff $1,300 in damages. The plaintiff subsequently requested a new trial or, in the alternative, additur. The district court awarded the plaintiff an additur of $8,200 and prejudgment interest, without offering the defendant a new trial on damages.

Summary Of Matter Of Harrison Living Trust, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 26, Jarrod Rickard

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

An appeal challenging a district court decision denying the petition of a trust beneficiary asking for an order surcharging the trustee for breach of fiduciary duty in distributing assets according to court order that the trustee knew was void.

Summary Of Aviation Ventures, Inc. V. Joan Morris, Inc., 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 13, 110 P.3d 59, Bryce Loveland

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Reno Hilton Resort Corp. V. Verderber, 121 Nev. Adv. Rep. 1 , Robert M. Henriksen

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A class action was brought as a result of a Norwalk-like virus outbreak at the Reno Hilton in May and June of 1996. The district court divided the action into two phases. The first phase consisted of a jury trial regarding liability and class-wide punitive damages. The jury, imposing $25 million in punitive damages, found that the appellant’s (Reno Hilton Resort Corp.) policy of unpaid sick leave was the proximate cause of the outbreak. The second phase, which has not yet ensued, will consist of individual hearings to assess compensatory damages for each class member. Following the conclusion of the …

Peace And Justice: Notes On The Evolution And Purposes Of Legal Processes, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances

This text of the inaugural lecture for the A.B. Chettle, Jr. Chair in Dispute Resolution and Civil Procedure at Georgetown University Law Center presents an intellectual outline (theory and practice) for a house of justice built on the foundations of Lon Fuller, the Legal Process school, Jurgen Habermas' and Stuart Hampshire's social philosophy about democratic processes, the floors of comparative processes, drawing on the work of political theorist Jon Elster and empirical work on legal and political processes and the ceilings of new processes, like consensus building fora, truth and reconciliation commissions and other combinations of legal and political processes. …

Summary Of Jordan V. State, Dep’T Of Motor Vehicles, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 7, Daria Snadowsky

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Jordan v. State rules on two separate appeals that address the same issue of first impression regarding guidelines Nevada state courts must follow in order to restrict court access to in proper person litigants with in forma pauperis status. This case also reconfirms the process by which in forma applications are reviewed. In the first case, respondent Officer Jimmie W. Jones arrested proper person appellant James Jacob Jordan for trespassing on state property2 after Jordan did not heed Officer Jones’s warning to leave the premises. After the trespass charge was dropped the following day, Jordan sued Officer Jones along with …

Summary Of In The Matter Of The Estate Of John W. Bowlds, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 100, Kristen T. Gallagher

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

An appeal from both parties regarding a court’s review of fee agreements between an estate and its attorneys.

Summary Of State V. Sutton, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 99, Kristen T. Gallagher

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a final judgment from a breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in an employment law case.

The Lawyer's Role(S) In Deliberative Democracy, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Plumber Responds To The Philosophers: A Comment On Professor Menkel-Meadow's Essay On Deliberative Democracy, Philip J. Harter

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Learning From Practice: What Adr Needs From A Theory Of Justice, Katherine R. Kruse

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Look Before You Leap And Keep On Looking: Lessons From The Institutionalization Of Court-Connected Mediation, Bobbie Mcadoo, Nancy A. Welsh

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Summary Of United Insurance Company Of America Vs. Chapman, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 83, Ryan Hall

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the prejudgment interest awarded to Chapman should have been calculated pursuant to the specific interest statute, rather than the general interest statute, because the special interest statute was in effect when the judgment was entered. The district court had erred by awarding the attorney fees to Chapman, because United’s claim was brought on reasonable ground. The award of postjudgment interest awarded to Chapman was also reversed.

Summary Of Middleton Vs. Warden, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 74, Ryan Hall

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Nevada Supreme Court removed Middleton’s appointed appellate counsel due to substandard representation. On initial review, the Nevada Supreme Court ordered Middleton's counsel to submit an amended brief, limited to 80 pages. Counsel's "amended" brief was simply the original brief with the final few pages removed so as to meet the 80-page requirement. Counsel had repeatedly violated court orders, and the work product he ultimately submitted was unacceptable for representation of a client who was facing a death sentence.

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

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & 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.

Whither The Udrp: Autonomous, Americanized, Or Cosmopolitan?, Laurence R. Helfer

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article explores the future trajectory of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), outlining three potential evolutionary pathways: an autonomous UDRP distinct from national laws, an Americanized UDRP aligned with U.S. legal frameworks, or a cosmopolitan UDRP influenced by diverse national laws. Each pathway has significant implications for the UDRP's role in resolving domain name disputes globally.

Summary Of Bohlmann V. Printz, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 62, Z. Ryan Pahnke

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Pan V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 120 Nev. Adv.Op.No.26, Ronda Heilig

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

When all of the “prerequisites for finality are met, an order that dismisses a case for forum non conveniens is a final judgment that should be reviewed on appeal,”2 and not via a petition for a writ of mandamus.

Brief Of Respondents In Opposition, In Re Green Tree Financial Corp., No. 03-1243 (U.S. Apr. 22, 2004), Cornelia T. Pillard

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

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 …