As this article describes, the Obama Administration has awarded a $3 million grant to the New York court system (of all things) in its effort to improve patient safety while lower the costs of medical malpractice litigation. The grant stems from the work of Judge Doug McKeon, who handles medical malpractice cases involving New York … Continue reading Finding “Humanness” in Medical Malpractice Litigation
In a recent case, Matarrazo v. L.R. Royal, Inc., a New York court said “No.” The employer was a mortgage broker, and the employee was hired as a mortgage sales manager. The employee’s attorney drafted the arbitration clause, which provided that the parties split the costs of arbitration, with an important caveat: the employee’s share … Continue reading Can Costs of Employment Arbitration Be Unfair to Employer?
For more than a decade, online dispute resolution has hovered above the legal and DR communities, posing both a threat to human DR professionals and the promise of radically more efficient dispute resolution systems. Cybersettle has been the tangible tip of the otherwise evanescent ODR spear—a success story of online dispute resolution playing a role … Continue reading Cybersettle and the Value of Online Dispute Resolution
In conjunction with FINRA, the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution at St. John’s will host the second annual Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon on October 2-3, 2010 in New York City. This competition requires student teams to negotiate, mediate, and arbitrate a realistic securities dispute, with neutrals from FINRA’s roster serving as mediators, arbitrators, … Continue reading Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon – Early Bird Deadline
Pepperdine’s Peter Robinson has published an article titled Settlement Conference Judge – Legal Lion or Problem Solving Lamb: An Empirical Documentation of Judicial Settlement Conference Practices and Techniques in which he reports on an empirical study he conducted of judges in California to assess their methodologies in settlement conferencing. As he acknowledges, the results cannot … Continue reading Robinson on Judicial Settlement Conferences
The Federal Judicial Center has released a whitepaper entitled In Their Words: Attorney Views About Costs and Procedures in Federal Civil Litigation, that reports on interviews with 35 attorneys exploring the costs of federal civil litigation. The report contains many predictable conclusions (costs increase with higher stakes; IP litigation is really expensive) as well as … Continue reading FJC Report on Litigation Costs and Impact of Arbitration
I reported last week on BP’s suggestion that it would appoint an independent mediator to help resolve claims relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Now, BPs hand has been forced by the Obama Administration. BP announced today that it would establish a $20 billion fund to compensate victims, and that the fund would be overseen … Continue reading Feinberg to Oversee BP Fund
Marcia Coyle reports on looming judicial and legislative developments in arbitration, with quotes from Andrew Tulumello, Charles Craver, and Paul Bland. The next six months promises to be an eventful period in arbitration land, with a decision in Rent-a-Center on the horizon, followed by AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion next term and possible Congressional action on … Continue reading NYLJ on Arbitration
This week, the Obama Administration sent a very forceful letter to BP demanding that BP document its process for paying claims resulting from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In May, BP had announced that it was planning a mediation program to handle disputed claims, and that it would soon appoint an Independent Mediator. Apparently, no one … Continue reading Mediation in Deepwater?
Thanks to Andrea, Michael, Sarah, Art, Jill & Cynthia for giving me an opportunity to participate on the blog. I’ve enjoyed the blog as a reader for several years. One of the blog topics that has interested me recently is the subject of gender in negotiations. Andrea convinced me that I need to dedicate more … Continue reading Overoptimism Bias & Gender
