In May, the Third Circuit heard oral arguments in Delaware Coalition for Open Government v. Stine, the case challenging the constitutionality of Delaware’s chancery arbitration scheme (see my previous commentary on the program here, here, and here.) A federal court had found the scheme unconstitutional on grounds that it violated the public’s First Amendment right … Continue reading Stipanowich on Delaware Chancery Arbitration
CALL FOR PAPERS ADR and the Regulatory State Sponsored by the AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution 2014 AALS Annual Meeting • January 2-5, 2014 • New York City Private dispute resolution and agency decision-making are now prominent and permanent features of our legal landscape, either as substitutes for or alternatives to formal adjudication. In … Continue reading AALS ADR Section Call for Papers
I will be moderating a panel discussion at Cardozo School of Law this Thursday evening on the Delaware Chancery Court’s arbitration program, which I blogged about here and here. The Delaware scheme was struck down by a federal district court last year. The case is now on appeal to the Third Circuit. Here are the … Continue reading Cardozo Panel to Discuss Delaware Chancery Arbitration Scheme
Shortly after the 2011 debt crisis, I wrote a post titled “Neutral in Chief?” in which I suggested that, while President Obama was perceived to have “lost the debt crisis negotiation,” he may not have seen himself in the role of negotiator at all. He may in fact have seen his role closer to that … Continue reading From Neutral in Chief to Bargainer in Chief
In my previous post on Nitro-Lift, I argued that arbitration agreements involving covenants not to compete could be susceptible to challenge under the Federal Arbitration Act’s savings clause. Because it equates arbitrators with courts sitting in other jurisdictions, that analysis rests on an assumption that arbitrators act as quasi-public dispute resolvers, determining rights and obligations … Continue reading Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard: Judicial Review and the Contractarian Model of Arbitration
Friend of the blog Kristen Blankley (Nebraska) weighs in on the Supreme Court’s next duel with the Second Circuit over class arbitration: The Supreme Court today granted cert in the Second Circuit case of Oxford Health Plans, LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135. The Sutter case is a direct response to the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision … Continue reading Blankley on the Newest Class Arbitration Case to Reach the Supreme Court
As I argued in a recent post, Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard, 568 U.S. ___ (2012), is another in an increasingly long line of cases that trample on state sovereignty in the name of the Supreme Court’s fabricated “federal policy favoring arbitration.” The question for state courts chafing under this regime is whether legal strategies exist … Continue reading Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard: Forum Selection and the FAA Savings Clause
As Jill Gross suggested in her post the other day, there is nothing novel about the Supreme Court’s per curiam decision in Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard, 568 U.S. ___ (2012). And the fact that the case seems unexceptional is powerful evidence for how extreme the Supreme Court’s arbitration jurisprudence has become. Like most states, Oklahoma has … Continue reading Nitro-Lift Technologies v. Howard: The Arbitration Locomotive Rolls On
Another engrossing Works-in-Progress Conference wrapped up on Saturday with two presentations focusing on the challenges presented by conflicting cultural paradigms in our increasingly interconnected world. Mariana Hernandez-Crespo (St. Thomas, Minn.) made a passionate plea for the integration rather than assimilation of different cultures, the better to foster the multiplicity of ideas that spurs innovation. Recognizing … Continue reading Culture and Conflict – Reflections on the WIP Conference
Last winter, I wrote about the Delaware Court of Chancery’s arbitration scheme, in which the court hired out its Chancery Judges to serve as “private” arbitrators, deciding in secret cases they otherwise would have been deciding in public, with proceeds from the five-figure fees going into court coffers. The scheme was a grotesque, if predictable, … Continue reading A Stumble in the March of Adjudicative Privatization: Delaware Chancery Arbitration Scheme Declared Unconstitutional
