Another case in the line of cases holding parties to their commitments to mediate before filing suit. Earlier this month, in Adams v. Newport Crest Homeowners Association, 2009 WL 2875361, (Cal.App. 4 Dist., 2009), a California appellate court upheld the dismissal of a case on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to pursue mediation prior … Continue reading Contractual Agreements to Mediate
About an hour ago,a federal judge struck down the proposed settlement between Bank of America and federal regulators over bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives. The online version of the New York Times runs the story, “Judge Rejects Settlement Over Merrill Bonuses.” I have pasted the text of the article below, and the twelve page … Continue reading Judicial Scrutiny of Settlements
The good folks at Penn State are holding a symposium in March 2010 focused on the Supreme Court’s recent Ashcroft v. Iqbal decision. I am confident the actual title of their symposium will be more professional-sounding than the tagline for this blog entry, but I think I’ve pretty well captured the basic tone of many … Continue reading What’s Icky About Iqbal?
Andy Schepard of Hofstra Law School sent the following message to the ADR list-serv earlier this month. A pdf of the UCLA appears here. ——– Dear ADR colleagues: I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. I am pleased to report that he Uniform Law Commission voted to adopt the Uniform Collaborative Law Act on … Continue reading Uniform Collaborative Law Act – Adoption and Upcoming Conference
The Summer edition of Dispute Resolution Magazine runs an article by Diane Levin (a familiar name to those in the online ADR community because she is the brain behind adrblogs.com). Likening us to 18th century English coffehouses (where is my double-shot latte, by the way?), Diane thoughtfully describes the blog phenomenon in a way that … Continue reading ADR Blogging Makes an Appearance in Print
Geoff Sharp, whose Mediatorblahblah blog was one of the only things I read with regularity, announced a few days ago that he is bowing out. We as a field are poorer for his departure, but we should all be grateful to him for his thoughtful, self-confessedly “overly opinionated” contributions. With more than a thousands posts … Continue reading Geoff Sharp, Mediatorblahblah, “Bows Out” of blogging
And by us, I mean people who teach ADR in law schools. I have just completed a year-long data-driven research project looking at the current shape of ADR within the legal academy, along with a look at trends over the past decade. I learned a ton. I was sometimes surprised. Occasionally appalled. Mostly hopeful. Some … Continue reading What Could Possibly Be More Interesting Than Us ?
Lots to chew on coming out of Washington, D.C. in recent days. Paul Bland (Public Justice) and Professor Chris Drahozal (Kansas) provided testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, along with representatives of NAF and AAA. Their prepared testimony is available here. The Staff Report is here. Rep. … Continue reading Materials from Congressional Hearings on Arbitration
Citing the Wall Street Journal, WorkplaceProfBlog just reported here that the American Arbitration Association has withdrawn from consumer debt collection arbitration. I have not found AAA’s statement on the decision, and I have no idea how this affects existing claims. Some have guessed that “smoking gun evidence” led to the NAF decision to withdraw. I … Continue reading AAA Joins NAF in Stepping Away from Credit Card Arbitration
Business Week reported yesterday that NAF will no longer do consumer card arbitration, and if I’m reading the article correctly, will no longer do any of a range of other consumer arbitrations. A settlement of the Minnesota Attorney General’s claim against NAF, this could shake up arbitration from a provider side, just as Congress has … Continue reading NAF Announcement — Out of Consumer Arbitration
