Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Arbitration Of Statutory Claims In The Unionized Workplace: Is Bargaining With The Union Required?, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the question of whether arbitration of statutory claims should be classified as a mandatory or permissive subject of bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). First, this article reviews the post-Wright cases that hold that a union-negotiated waiver is permissible. Second, this article reviews the only decision to consider the issue of classification of the bargaining subject, Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., a case arising in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia under the Railway Labor Act. In that case, the court concluded that the …

Ulysses Tied To The Generic Whipping Post: The Continuing Odyssey Of Discovery "Reform", Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

One need not be a charter member of the Critical Legal Studies Movement (“CLS”) to see a few fundamental contradictions in litigation practice in the United States. A prominent philosophical tenet of the CLS movement is that law and society are gripped by a “fundamental contradiction” and simultaneously seek to embrace contradictory objectives. Civil litigation, particularly discovery, is no exception: New amendments to the discovery rules are the latest example of this contradiction. Although the new changes are not drastic, they continue the post-1976 pattern of making discovery the convenient scapegoat for generalized complaints about the dispute resolution system. One …

Mandatory Binding Arbitration And The Demise Of The Seventh Amendment Right To A Jury Trial, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

How can the body of law which protects the federal constitutional jury trial right be reconciled with a body of arbitration law which often states such propositions as (1) arbitration is favored; (2) arbitration clauses may be upheld absent a showing of voluntary, knowing, or intentional consent; (3) the party opposing arbitration bears the burden of proof; (4) arbitration can sometimes be imposed using unsigned envelope "stuffers," handbooks, and warranties; and (5) ambiguous contracts should be construed broadly to support arbitration? To be valid, in most courts the waiver and whether it was actually state arbitration clauses need not be …

Waiver - Not Yet: After More Than Eight Years Of Pre-Trial Litigation The Second Circuit Orders Arbitration - Crysen/Montenay Energy Co. V. Shell Oil Co. And Scallop Petroleum Co., David A. Geisler Ii.

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arbitration clauses, like most terms in a contract, are enforceable against either party and, unless expressly or impliedly waived, should be enforced. While the federal courts and Congress have a policy that strongly favors arbitration, in some situations the factual nature of the case leads the court to conclude that the right to arbitrate the matter has been waived. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in In re Crysen/Montenay Energy Co. v. Shell Oil Co. and Scallop Petroleum Co., addressed this issue; however the court concluded that the policy favoring the enforcement of arbitration provisions outweighed the prejudice to Crysen/Montenay …

Foreign Law Year In Review: 2000, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Contents

• Introduction

Foreign Law Year In Review: 2001, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Contents

• Introduction

International Legal Developments In Review: 2000, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Contents

• Editor's Preface
• Introduction

Class Action Vs. Arbitration: Does Tila Support Class Actions In Arbitration Where Statutory Rights Are Concerned - Johnson V. West Suburban Bank, Christina S. Lewis

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Johnson v. West Suburban Bank is an important case in American jurisprudence because it combines several United States Supreme Court cases to establish a test for whether arbitration provisions relating to statutory rights should be upheld when they essentially preclude class actions. This Casenote will examine the progression the courts have taken and Johnson's subsequent test. Finally, an evaluation of this test will follow.

Mandatory Arbitration Of An Employee's Statutory Rights: Still A Controversial Issue Or Are We Beating The Proverbial Dead Horse - Penn V. Ryan's Family Steakhouse, Inc., Andrea L. Myers

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Since the early 1980s, the Supreme Court has espoused a strong preference for arbitration in the employment setting. Despite this general preference, the Supreme Court has never clearly stated that mandatory arbitration of statutory rights is always reasonable. This omission has led to much controversy about whether this preference permits the mandatory arbitration of all statutory rights or only those that are amenable to arbitration as defined by the Supreme Court.

Paying The Price Of Process: Judicial Regulation Of Consumer Arbitration Agreements, Stephen J. Ware

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Arbitration clauses now appear in many of the form contracts through which consumers obtain goods, services and credit.' Why do so many businesses that deal with consumers choose arbitration? Relative to litigation, arbitration provides opportunities for a business to save on its dispute-resolution costs. If arbitration does, in fact, lower these costs then arbitration lowers the prices (and interest rates) consumers pay because competition forces businesses to pass their cost-savings on to consumers.

To Litigate Or Arbitrate - No Matter - The Credit Card Industry Is Deciding For You, Johanna Harrington

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Comment posits that consumers lose their legal protections in the credit industry when arbitration policies are favored over consumer credit protection policies. Part II will examine the language of credit card arbitration clauses including a discussion of the circumstances under which a credit card holder might bring a claim. Part III will discuss barriers to challenging the arbitration provisions. Part IV will summarize how the courts have addressed mandatory arbitration clauses in credit cards. Part V will examine traditional consumer credit protection laws, specifically whether the Truth-in-Lending Act is able to protect consumers from mandatory arbitration clauses. Finally, Part …

Ethics In Adr: The Many "Cs" Of Professional Responsibility And Dispute Resolution, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I have been teaching both alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") and professional responsibility for a long time, and I will devote the majority of this essay to reporting on some of the enormous changes and developments in this field. However, I will begin with a mea culpa at a higher level of ethical consciousness than the rules that govern us, or are about to govern us, typically use. I have spent the last five years of my life writing ethical rules for ADR, and I am worried about the future of this field. There are many changes occurring in ADR, and …

The Changing Role Of Labor Arbitration (Symposium: New Rules For A New Game: Regulating Employment Relationships In The 21st Century), Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

A quarter century ago, in a provocative and prophetic article, David E. Feller lamented the imminent close of what he described as labor arbitration's "golden age." I have expressed reservations about that characterization, insofar as it suggested an impending shrinkage in the stature of arbitration. But Professor Feller was right on target in one important respect. Labor arbitration was going to change dramatically from the autonomous institution in the relatively self-contained world of union-management relations which it had been from the end of World War II into the 1970s. When the subject matter was largely confined to union-employer agreements, arbitration …

Gilmer In The Collective Bargaining Context, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Can a privately negotiated arbitration agreement deprive employees of the statutory right to sue in court on claims of discrimination in employment because of race, sex, religion, age, disability, and similar grounds prohibited by federal law? Two leading U.S. Supreme Court decisions, decided almost two decades apart, reached substantially different answers to this questionand arguably stood logic on its head in the process. In the earlier case of Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., involving arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement, the Court held an adverse award did not preclude a subsequent federal court action by the black grievant alleging racial discrimination. …

Recent Developments: The Uniform Arbitration Act, S. Owen Griffin, Kelli Hopkins, Scot L. Wiggins, Emily Woodward

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Article is an overview of recent court decisions that interpret state versions of the Uniform Arbitration Act ("U.A.A.").' Arbitration statutes patterned after the U.A.A. have been adopted by thirty-four states and the District of Columbia. The goal of this project is to promote uniformity in the interpretation of the U.A.A. by articulating the underlying policies and rationales of recent court decisions interpreting the U.A.A?

Negligent Retention And Arbitration: The Effect Of A Developing Tort On Traditional Labor Law, Terry A. Bethel

Journal of Dispute Resolution

As negligent retention theories continue to grow, courts will inevitably address these questions. This article will offer a brief introduction to the tort of negligent retention and related doctrines and will discuss how courts will accommodate them within traditional labor law principles. Despite my impulsive reaction that negligent retention poses a threat to arbitration, I conclude that, for the most part, negligent retention and labor arbitration can coexist peacefully.

Arbitration And Its Collateral Estoppel Effect On Third Parties - Vandenberg V. Superior Court, Thurston K. Cromwell

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Note examines why California's supreme court chose not to allow judicially confirmed arbitration awards to apply to third parties. The court based its decision on the contract model of arbitration and determined that an agreement to arbitrate was not necessarily an agreement binding third parties. However, this decision undermines the credibility of the arbitration process and fails to consider the negative impact relitigation of issues will have on the California courts.

Negligent Retention And Arbitration: The Effect Of A Developing Tort On Traditional Labor Law, Terry A. Bethel

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Identifying Real Dichotomies Underlying The False Dichotomy: Twenty-First Century Mediation In An Eclectic Regime, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Some people (lawyers, scholars, judges, dispute resolvers, policymakers) are more concerned about fidelity to procedural protocols while others are more concerned with the substantive rules governing disputes and substantive outcomes. Those in the dispute resolution community preferring facilitation tend to be proceduralists. For them, the observance of proper procedure is a high goal, perhaps the dominant goal. They reason, often implicitly, that adherence to the rules of procedure is the essence of neutrality, fairness, and the proper role of a dispute resolving apparatus. At some level, usually subconscious, there is a post-modern philosophical aspect of this preference. Because humans cannot …

The Inevitability Of The Eclectic: Liberating Adr From Ideology, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The problem with viewing facilitation as the only legitimate form of mediation, of course, is that it borders on tautology: mediation is nonevaluative, therefore any evaluation in mediation must be impermissible. Although this view remains strongly held in many quarters, it appears to be in retreat, both within the mediation community and in the legal community at large. Courts and commentators have shown increasing favor toward some evaluative or advising component of mediation. More important, the eclectic style appears to be what takes place in the metaphorical trenches of mediation practice (although sound empirical data is necessarily hard to obtain …

Fighting Arbitration Clauses In Franchisor Contracts, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

Purporting to serve justice, efficiency, and freedom of contract, business interests are increasingly attempting to use binding arbitration clauses to secure unfair advantages over unknowing parties. Courts seemingly have been eager to enforce arbitration clauses that appear in franchise agreements. This article discusses courts’ enforcement of arbitration clauses, undermining protections to the franchisee, and how franchisees can create a more level playing field.

Is Binding Arbitration A Form Of Adr?: An Argument That The Term "Adr" Has Begun To Outlive Its Usefulness, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

Professor Frank Sander has, for many years, been one of the most prescient commentators on the alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") movement. His 1976 Pound Conference speech has been identified by many as marking the birth of the modern ADR phenomena. That speech, which compared some of the pros and cons of litigation and an array of other dispute resolution processes, has been summarized as proposing the concept of the "multi-door courthouse." In contrast, Professor Sander's more recent and very interesting review of the present and future of ADR makes little attempt to distinguish between mediation and binding arbitration, the two …

As Mandatory Binding Arbitration Meets The Class Action, Will The Class Action Survive?, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

Assuming that the traditional prerequisites for a class action have been met, courts have four choices: (1) order the dispute to be resolved in an individualized arbitration, thereby denying plaintiffs either a litigation or arbitration venue for their class claims; (2) refuse to mandate arbitration, and instead allow plaintiffs to litigate their class claims; (3) order that the dispute be resolved through an arbitral class action, also known as classwide arbitration; or (4) order the dispute to arbitration but allow the arbitrators to make the determination as to whether the dispute should be resolved individually or on a class basis. …

Mothers And Fathers Of Invention: The Intellectual Founders Of Adr, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

When we think of the "founding" of the ADR movement (particularly, but not exclusively, in law), from when do we date it? Whom do we think of as our leaders? Many of us think of Frank Sander and the "multi-door courthouse" suggested by his famous paper, delivered at the Pound Conference on the Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice in 1976. For others, the publication of Roger Fisher and William Ury's "Getting to Yes," signaled an interest in a changed paradigm for engaging in legal negotiations. Some may associate ADR's nascency with early practical efforts to institutionalize …

Arbitration: Arbitration In The 21st Century: Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Todd Baker

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Setting Arbitrators' Fees: An International Survey, John Y. Gotanda

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the compensation policies of international arbitrators. Specifically, the Article details the results of a survey of individuals who practice in the area of international arbitration.

Initially, the Article describes the different methods of calculating the fees of the arbitral tribunal, discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method. The study concludes that most arbitrators calculate their fees using a time-based method, except when the arbitral institution requires that their fees be determined under the ad valorem method.

Next, the Article examines arbitrators' policies regarding cancellation and commitment fees. Survey results highlighted confusion about whether arbitrators were …

Arbitration And Judicial Review, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Other Publications

A quarter century ago, in a presentation at the Academy's annual meeting, I used the phrase "contract reader" to characterize the role an arbitrator plays in construing a collective bargaining agreement. That two-word phrase may be the only thing I ever said before this body that has been remembered. Unfortunately, it is almost invariably misunderstood. Time and again members have reproached me: "What's the big deal about contract reading, anyway? Isn't it just the same as contract interpretation?" Or, more substantively scathing: "Do you really think, Ted, that all you have to do to interpret a labor agreement is to …

Mandatory Arbitration: Bane Or Boon?, Theodore St. Antoine

Other Publications

Buy a new car that turns out to be a lemon and you may find you can't sue. Fine print in the sales contract often restricts you to arbitration. That means presenting your case before a private person instead of a judge and jury. And the arbitrator may be someone drawn from a panel compiled by the car seller.

Images Of Justice, Lela P. Love

Articles

No abstract provided.

Non-Union Member Complaints To Calculation Of Agency Shop Fees: Arbitration Or Judicial Relief - Air Line Pilots Ass'n V. Miller, Ann E. Ahrens

Journal of Dispute Resolution

"Free rider" problems plague any group or association that provides general benefits for its participants. Members may pay a fee, but nonmembers can reap the benefits without expenditure. Labor unions address this disparity through the use of agency shop fees contained in collective bargaining agreements. These fee agreements call for those employees who choose not to join the union to pay their share of the costs of collective bargaining. Labor unions have developed extensive mechanisms in order to calculate the amount of the fee. Employees, who do not want to subsidize activities they do not support, can file complaints with …