A WSJ online article posted here reports that the spike in arbitration filings at FINRA Dispute Resolution is testing recent changes to the process designed to make the forum fairer to investors. The article begins: “Many investors who suffered massive losses in their portfolios are filing complaints against the brokers and brokerage firms that sold them … Continue reading WSJ Asks if FINRA Arbitration is “New and Improved”
Here is a link to a recent column in the New York Law Journal explaining that arbitrators are less prone to grant a dispositive motion than judges, suggesting that disputants are more likely to get to a hearing phase in arbitration than in court. Given the Supreme Court’s recent tightening of the pleading and summary judgment … Continue reading Arbitrators grant dispositive motions less often than judges
I was pleasantly surprised to read in my daughter’s sleepaway camp newsletter that the camp spends time each week teaching the girls conflict resolution skills: Tonight, the counselors are putting on the first Creative Service of the summer. Creative Service is a time to pause and reflect on the lessons learned here at camp. Tonight’s … Continue reading Teaching Conflict Resolution Skills Early
I just learned that my University is closing its Ombuds Office, to save resources in these tight times, and instead is spreading out its functions among various related offices (student complaints to Dean of Students Office; employee disputes to Human Resources, etc.). It seems to me that this economically-driven decision clearly undervalues dispute resolution. While those … Continue reading Are Ombuds Offices Expendable?
Read Professor Black’s Securities Law Prof Blog posting here.
From p. 72 of the Treasury Department’s Financial Regulatory Reform blueprint (entitled “A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation”) released today: The SEC should study the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in investor contracts. Broker-dealers generally require their customers to contract at account opening to arbitrate all disputes. Although arbitration may be a reasonable … Continue reading The Obama Administration’s Plan for Securities Arbitration
Today, the United States Supreme Court granted a cert petition in Stolt-Nielsen S.A., et al., v. Animalfeeds International Corp., 548 F.3d 85 (2d Cir. 2008). The Court agreed to decide the question originally presented but ultimately not decided in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003) — whether imposing class arbitration on parties whose … Continue reading Supreme Court grants cert in another FAA-related case
Yesterday, as reported here, President Obama appointed Kenneth Feinberg as the official in charge of determining limits to executive compensation at companies receiving federal bailout money. Mr. Feinberg is no stranger to making compensation determinations involving large sums of money, as he was in charge of determining payouts to families from the September 11 Victim’s … Continue reading Obama’s Executive Compensation “Czar” is ADR Savvy
Since her nomination, I have been wondering what impact The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor would have on the law of dispute resolution if she were confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. While I could find no opinions she authored during her time on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals related to mediation law, I have read … Continue reading Judge Sotomayor and Arbitration Law
A propos of several recent postings on this blog about the Arbitration Fairness Act, Professor David S. Schwartz (U. Wisconsin) recently posted on SSRN an article entitled “Mandatory Arbitration and Fairness,” forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review. Here is the abstract: Until recently, it was understood that mandatory arbitration was a “do-it-yourself tort reform”: … Continue reading Mandatory Arbitration and Fairness
