BNA has reported that FINRA has implemented a new policy and will now conduct annual background checks as well as an additional review of arbitrators before appointing them to new cases. This change in policy was prompted by FINRA’s discovery last year that one of its arbitrators had been indicted for the uanuthorized practice of law. … Continue reading FINRA to conduct background checks on arbitrators
I have had a few days to digest the Supreme Court’s most recent opinions interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act (Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, see blog post here; and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, see blog posts here and here) and offer the following reflections: Sutter affirmed the broad power of the arbitrators to decide … Continue reading Reflections on 2013 Supreme Court Arbitration Decisions
NPR ran a story on Saturday about one high school in Michigan and its use of a “conflict resolution room” and peer mediators to help students to either prevent conflicts from becoming worse, or to deal with them after they have become violent. The story also discusses how the high school uses restorative justice processes … Continue reading A Good Story About High School
This blog post is from FOI, Prof. Jean Sternlight: On the theory that the worst Supreme Court arbitration ever is worth a second post, here is mine to supplement what Jill Gross has already posted. The Supreme Court’s decision today in American Express v. Italian Colors is ghastly, at least from the perspective of those who … Continue reading American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant Guts Enforcement of Federal Laws
The Supreme Court released today its eagerly-awaited decision (at least in the ADR world) in AMEX v. Italian Colors. In overturning the Second Circuit’s refusal to enforce a class action waiver on the ground that plaintiffs could not vindicate their statutory rights under the federal antitrust laws, the Court, in a 5-3 opinion authored by Justice Scalia (public … Continue reading Supreme Court Overturns Second Circuit in AMEX v Italian Colors
Late last week the Supreme Court unanimously decided U.S. v. Davila, the full decision is here. This is not a ground-breaking case, and the holding is not a surprise. Yet it is the bigger question about how our criminal justice system routinely works that is embedded into this case, although not confronted or even explicitly … Continue reading Plea Bargaining Harmless Error
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
Today, the Supreme Court in Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter, http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/oxford-health-plans-llc-v-sutter/, affirmed its commitment to narrow judicial review of arbitration decisions. In Sutter, the arbitrator interpreted an arbitration agreement to permit class arbitration. Because the parties asked the arbitrator to interpret the agreement, the only question for a court, according to the Supreme Court, is … Continue reading Supreme Court Affirms Commitment to Narrow Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards in Sutter Decision
At the Law&Society annual conference this past weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Nancy Welsh (Penn State), Cynthia Alkon (Texas Wesleyan), Danya Reda (NYU), Amy Cohen (Ohio State), and Hiro Aragaki (Loyola LA) — along with honorary panelists and commenters extraordinaire Art Hinshaw (ASU) and Kelly Browe Olson (Arkansas). The … Continue reading The virtue of proximity?
