Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Untangling The Privacy Paradox In Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Arbitration is private but not secret. This truism regarding arbitration seems contradictory and nonsensical. However, common understandings of privacy in arbitration often lull individuals into assuming personal information revealed in arbitration may not become public. They assume privacy and confidentiality are synonymous. The reality is that arbitration is private but not necessarily confidential, or secret. This is the privacy paradox: it defies common conceptions of arbitration's secrecy, but is nonetheless true. This paradox is problematic because it leads to shortsighted contracting and simplistic assumptions about arbitral justice. Moreover, it may foster injustice when repeat players unduly benefit from unpublished awards …

How Far Is Too Far: Reexamining The Continuing Extension Of Arbitral Immunity To Arbitral Organizations, Elizabeth Wilhelmi

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The protection of arbitration proceedings from judicial inquiry is restricted not only by the limited grounds for vacatur, but also by the application of arbitral immunity, a protection derived from the judicial immunity applied to judges. This immunity strengthens the finality of arbitration by restricting judicial review of decisions protected by arbitral immunity, but at the same time, it raises the question of whether courts should give arbitration the same broad immunity that protects judges. Despite the differences between arbitration and the judicial system, the courts have applied arbitral immunity to the arbitrator's acts in the same way as they …

The Contractarian Model Of Arbitration And Its Implications For Judicial Review Of Arbitral Awards, Paul F. Kirgis

Faculty Law Review Articles

Those who favor the current system of virtually unlimited and unreviewable arbitration can forestall change—and even avoid engaging in a sustained policy discussion—by falling back on those defenses. While it is not possible to resolve the policy issues finally, it is possible to assess whether the principle of party autonomy, coupled with applicable legal doctrine, justifies the degree of deference courts have adopted. That is what I attempt in this Article. I argue that, at least in certain classes of cases, the principle of party autonomy requires greater judicial scrutiny of arbitral awards. I argue further that this result is …

The Explained Award Of Damocles: Protection Or Peril In Securities Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

NASD's proposed rule change requiring arbitrators to provide written explanations in arbitration awards upon the customers' request (the “explained award proposal”), which was published for public comment in July 2005, is the clearest example of NASD's proposing a rule change in response to investors' complaints. “We have found that investors want to know more about how a panel reaches its decision,” stated NASD Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert R. Glauber in announcing the explained award proposal. “By giving investors the option of requiring a written explanation of an arbitration panel's decision, we will increase investor confidence in the fairness …

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 …

Transparency In International Commercial Arbitration, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars have long been making the case for expanding transparency in the international commercial arbitration system, but recently these proposals have taken on a greater sense of urgency and an apparent willingness to forcibly impose transparency reforms on unwilling parties. These new transparency advocates exhort the general public's stakehold in many issues being arbitrated, which they contend necessitates transparency reforms, including compulsory publication of international commercial arbitration awards.

In this symposium essay, I begin by developing a definition of transparency in the adjucatory setting, and conceptually distinguishing from other concepts, like "public access" and "disclosure," which are often improperly treated …

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. …

The Effect Of Forum Selection Clauses On District Courts’ Authority To Compel Arbitration, Thomas V. Burch, John W. Hinchey

Scholarly Works

This is a short piece written for the AAA's Dispute Resolution Journal on two competing provisions in Section 4 of the FAA. One provision tells district courts to compel arbitration in accordance with the parties' agreement, including any forum selection clause. The other says that the court can compel arbitration only within its own territory. This, of course, creates a problem when the forum selection clause calls for arbitration in another jurisdiction. This short article addresses the conflict, showing how courts tend to rule on the issue (as of 2006).

Teaching Adr In The Labor Field In China, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

My first visit to China, in 1994, was purely as a tourist, and came about almost by accident. In late September of that year I attended the XIV World Congress of the International Society for Labor Law and Social Security in Seoul, South Korea. In the second week of October I was scheduled to begin teaching a one-term course in American law as a visiting professor at Cambridge University in England. Despite my hazy notions of geography, I realized it made no sense to return to the United States for the intervening week. The obvious solution was to continue flying …

The Market For Justice, The "Litigation Explosion," And The "Verdict Bubble:" A Closer Look At Vanishing Trials, Frederic N. Smalkin, Frederic N. C. Smalkin

Faculty Scholarship

Recently, a respected jurist has lamented the declining number of federal jury trials. Chief Judge William Young of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, writing in the Federal Lawyer, pointed out that jury trials in federal civil cases declined 26% in the decade between 1989 and 1999, which he attributed to four factors: the district court judiciary’s “loss of focus” on the core function of trying jury cases; the business community’s loss of interest in jury adjudication (“opting out of the legal system altogether” in favor of arbitration); Congress’s “marginalizing the district court judiciary”; and …

California’S New Ethics Standards: A Hot Bed Of Controversy, Rebecca Callahan

ExpressO

The article examines California’s new ethics rules and examines the cases which have been decided to date challenging and applying those rules. The stated goals of the New Ethics Rules are “to inform and protect participants in arbitration, and to promote public confidence in the arbitration process.” This is a laudable goal since arbitration is a private process that is dependent on public acceptance. The heart of the controversy concerning the New Ethics Rules revolves around the practical inconvenience and cost burden associated with compliance. The enclosed article concludes that such a burden goes hand-in-hand with the privilege of being …

Market Solutions To Market Problems: Re-Examining Arbitral Immunity As A Solution To Unfairness In Securities Arbitration, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

This paper addresses the fairness of securities arbitrations in the United States. A few decades ago, such a topic would have been relegated to the academic hinterlands. For the first fifty years following the enactment of the nation's securities laws, pre-dispute arbitration agreements between investors and the securities industry were not enforceable. In a series of decisions in the late 1980s, the Supreme Court reversed course and held that such disputes were indeed arbitrable. Following those decisions, arbitration quickly became the preferred method of dispute resolution for cases arising under the nation's securities laws, especially disputes between investors and broker-dealers. …

The Nature And Enforcement Of Investor Rights Under Investment Treaties: Do Investment Treaties Have A Bright Future, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The number of investment treaties has surged in the past decade. Even now, the United States and Canada are actively engaged in programs designed to facilitate the completion of multilateral treaties such as the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). These investment treaties act like economic bills of rights, which grant foreign investors substantive protections and procedural rights to facilitate investment. Sovereigns, meanwhile, may benefit from these treaties by obtaining increased foreign direct investment, which may promote the development of their country's infrastructure 6 and offer citizens basic services including access to clean water, …

Hotels.Com V. Zuz Tourism Ltd., Asher Grunis, Mishael Cheshin, Edna Arbel

Translated Opinions

Facts: The applicant and the first respondent entered into an exclusive marketing agreement in February 2000. This agreement contained an arbitration clause stating that disputes between the parties would be resolved by arbitration which shall take place in Texas. In June 2002, the first respondent filed an action in Israel against the applicant and the second respondent, on the grounds that the second respondent was marketing the services of the applicant contrary to the agreement. The applicant filed a motion for a stay of proceedings on account of the arbitration clause in the agreement. The District Court denied the application, …

Sailing Around Erie:The Emergence Of A Federal General Common Law Of Arbitration, Kenneth Dunham

ExpressO

This paper traces the history of American arbitration from the common law to the FAA. It discusses the FAA as a procedural act prior to Southland v. Keating and as a substantive law act following Southland. It discusses the Erie doctrine as applicable to federal courts and state law preemption. The article concludes that Southland by-passed Erie using the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause to create a federal common law of arbitration.

Rules For A New Game: Finding A Workable Solution For Applying Class Actions To The Arbitration Process, Andrew Remy Norton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In 2003, the Supreme Court's decision in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, indicated that class-wide arbitration was permissible. As a result the number of cases of class-wide arbitration is likely to increase. Because of the few courts that have actually employed class-wide arbitration it has not been definitively settled as to how the hybrid procedure should be conducted. One school of thought emphasizes the class members' due process rights, while another argues that maintaining the integrity of the arbitration process should be a priority. This casenote analyzes the two separate theories and attempts to devise a workable solution for …

International Arbitration Is Not Your Father's Oldsmobile, Kenneth F. Dunham

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article provides a short prospectus for the unwary lawyer who must venture into unfamiliar territory abroad. Although there are numerous arbitral forums available in countries all over the world, this article will focus primarily on the LCIA and the ICC. Following a brief history of international arbitration and the history of these two international arbitral forums, the article will discuss some of the major issues in international arbitration such as forum selection, issue preclusion and procedural matters. This article also includes sections on appealing awards and enforcement of awards under existing international treaties. The article is brought to a …

Everybody Loves Arbitration: The Second Circuit Sets Pro-Arbitration Precedent In International Commercial Arbitration Cases, Jasen Matyas

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Phoenix Aktiengesellschaft v. Ecoplas, Inc. presented the Second Circuit with an unresolved question of preemption in international arbitration under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (Convention). The court specifically addressed the issue of whether the consent-to-confirmation requirement of section 9 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) conflicted with section 207 of the FAA which does not require such consent. Section 208 incorporates Chapter 1 provisions to the extent that such provisions are not in conflict with Chapter 2. Phoenix held that the two provisions were in conflict, and consent-to-confirmation is not incorporated into Chapter 2. …

Pro-Arbitration Policy: Is This What The Parties Really Intended - The Courts' Treatment Of Forum Selection Clauses In Arbitration Agreements, The, Lance Roskens

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In today's global economy, it is not uncommon for parties from different locations to contract together both in commerce and in employment. Especially in the context of employers, one party will often want any and all disputes it has with its employees to be resolved via arbitration in a certain forum. To accomplish this, employers often include a forum selection clause in the arbitration agreement with the future employee. Thus, if and how courts address forum selection clauses is of paramount importance to employers. In Sterling Financial Investment Group, Inc. v. Hammer, the 11 th Circuit Court of Appeals were …

Arbitrability Of Arbitrability, The, Michelle St. Germain

Journal of Dispute Resolution

If you can read the following only once and understand it, consider yourself part of a very small minority: "It is the dilemma of the box within a box or, in the case of arbitration, the authority as to the decision as to the authority to make the decision." That is "arbitrability" in a nutshell; not a simple concept. Indeed, at oral argument in First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, the confusion occurred to a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

An Evaluation Of Current Legitimacy-Based Objections To Nafta's Chapter 11 Investment Dispute Resolution Process, Naveen Gurudevan

San Diego International Law Journal

The year 1994 saw the conclusion of a very important trilateral trade and investment treaty in North America: the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since then, this agreement has had a tremendous impact on the trading relations among the three signatory states-the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Of particular significance is Chapter 11, the Investment Chapter. One of the main objectives of Chapter 11 is to provide an effective means for the resolution of disputes between a foreign investor and the host government. To this end, it provides a mechanism whereby private parties can initiate arbitration proceedings against the host …

Market For Private Dispute Resolution Services - An Empirical Re-Assessment Of Icann-Udrp Performance, The, Jay P. Kesan, Andres A. Gallo

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

We present a thorough analysis of one of the ADR regimes that is considered a significant success in Internet markets, the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) implemented by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In this work, we perform a complete empirical analysis of the UDRP and evaluate its performance. We then extrapolate the results to other sectors of the Internet market and to private dispute resolution in general.[...] In this paper, we thoroughly critique the performance of the UDRP providers and identify the main variables that determine ICANN's efficiency. For example, one of the key variables, …

Democracy And Dispute Resolution: The Problem Of Arbitration, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

Scholars have approached arbitration, especially under the Federal Arbitration Act, from a variety of perspectives, including doctrinal, historical, empirical, and practical. One aspect that has not yet been fully considered, however, is the relationship between arbitration and constitutional democracy. Yet, as a dispute-resolution process that is often sanctioned by the government, that sometimes inextricably intertwines governmental and private conduct, and that derives its legitimacy from the government, it is appropriate--indeed, our responsibility--to ask whether arbitration furthers the goals of democratic governance. It is only sensible that state-supported dispute resolution in a democracy should strengthen, rather than diminish, democratic governance and …

The Legitimacy Crisis In Investment Treaty Arbitration: Privatizing Public International Law Through Inconsistent Decisions, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Mobile Home Mania? Protecting Procedurally Fair Arbitration In A Consumer Microcosm, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Consumers' lack of warranty remedies prompted Congress to enact the 2000 Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA). Under the Act, the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must develop a program for resolving MH warranty disputes by the end of 2005. This article provides input regarding that program. It also calls for broader protection of procedural fairness in arbitration of disputes regarding warranties for mobile or manufactured homes (referred to in the article as MHs for ease of reference). Although HUD's program aims to create a process for resolving warranty disputes among manufacturers, dealers and installers, this article proposes that …

Final Offer Arbitration, Harold I. Abramson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

When Contracting Around The Law Will Not Work: The Potential Inability To Expressly Prohibit Punitive Damages In Arbitration, Alexia Norris

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Just as the availability of all appropriate remedies is an important part of judicial litigation, the attempt to identify and limit those remedies is an issue in an arbitration proceeding. After the United States Supreme Court's 1995 decision in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., it seemed clear that parties would be allowed to seek punitive damages if an agreement did not expressly prohibit such damages. Even so, parties continue to falter in writing agreements meant to contain the proper language that will succeed in limiting the availability of certain remedies. This is due to the continued confusion over how …

Creeping Mandatory Arbitration: Is It Just?, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

This Article examines the phenomenon of mandatory binding arbitration, imposed on consumers and employees, and considers whether this type of dispute resolution serves or instead undermines justice. It is fairly easy to attack binding arbitration as unfair, for example pointing to the fact that it undermines rights to jury trial and to proceed in class actions. However, this Article seeks to examine the phenomenon of mandatory binding arbitration from a broader perspective, recognizing that it is inappropriate to assume that justice requires our existing system of litigation, with its class actions and jury trial. The Article concludes that while informal …

The Vocation Of International Arbitrators, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines the vocation of the international arbitrator. I begin by evaluating, under sociological frameworks developed in literature on Weberian theories of the professions, how the arbitration community is organized and regulated. Arbitrators operate in a largely private and unregulated market for services, access to which is essentially controlled by what might be considered a governing cartel of the most elite arbitrators. I conclude my description with an account of how recently international arbitrators have begun to display a professional impulse, meaning efforts to present themselves as a profession to obtain the benefits of professionalization. Professional status is often …

If You Lose, It Is Binding, But If You Win - They Get A New Trial: Illinois Uninsured Motorist Arbitration, Michael J. Hanagan

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Reed v. Farmers Insurance Group the Illinois Supreme Court-by a 4-3 vote-upheld an arbitration system in which injury victims are bound by awards below $20,000, but in which insurance companies can insist on a trial de novo for awards over that amount.' A recent legislative enactment has complicated the threshold at which awards change from binding to non-binding, by increasing it to $50,000. However, even in cases where a higher threshold applies, those injury victims receiving awards below the threshold (or losing on the issue of liability) are bound by the arbitration, while injury victims receiving awards higher than …