Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a mandatory arbitration clause in an insurance contract was unenforceable under state law, and the state law was not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act because of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.  In State of Wash. v. James River Ins. Co., Civ. No. 87644-4 (WA Sup. Ct. Jan. … Continue reading Washington State Supreme Court Voids Mandatory Arbitration Clause in Insurance Contract →

From Susan Raines at Kennesaw State: Conflict Resolution Quarterly publishes scholarship on relationships between theory, research, and practice in the conflict management and dispute resolution field to promote more effective professional applications. Conflict Resolution Quarterly is sponsored by the Association for Conflict Resolution. Articles may focus on any aspect of the conflict resolution process or … Continue reading CRQ Call for Papers on Organizational DR →

Seeking a host institution! This year will mark the seventh anniversary of the AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress conference. The WIP is often described as a “must attend” and for good reason. It’s great to spend a day and a half sharing drafts and floating ideas and running theories past other ADR scholars. Last November, Ohio … Continue reading Call for Proposals: Hosting the WIP →

Thanks to Securities Arbitration Alert 2013-01 from the Securities Arbitration Commentator, I learned that the broker-dealer Charles Schwab has amended the arbitration clause in its customer account agreement to remove one of the provisions that led to disciplinary action against it by FINRA Enforcement.  (See my previous blog posts on the subject, here, here and … Continue reading Schwab Amends its Investor PDAA →

FINRA has filed with the SEC a proposal to change the definition of “public arbitrator” in its Codes of Arbitration Procedure to “exclude persons associated with a mutual fund or hedge fund from serving as public arbitrators and to require individuals to wait for two years after ending certain affiliations before they may be permitted to … Continue reading FINRA Rule Proposal to Amend Definition of “Public Arbitrator” →

When I read news articles on-line I now make a conscious habit of not reading the comments.  It turns out this is probably a good thing for more reasons than just that the comments are often annoying.  As one commentator noted, “The online peanut gallery can get you so riled up that your ability to … Continue reading The Problem with Comments →

The quarterly edition of the Moritz College of Law’s Mayhew-Hite Report on Dispute Resolution in the Courts, a joint publication of the Moritz Program on Dispute Resolution and the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, is available at: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/epub/mayhew-hite/2012/12/381/ Highlights of this issue include a transcript of Ken Feinberg’s Lawrence Lecture, given at Moritz last … Continue reading New Issue of Mayhew-Hite Report on Dispute Resolution and the Courts Available →

I started the New Year by welcoming a new member of the family, Ernest, my ten week old Welsh Corgi Puppy.  In the grand Indisputably tradition (thank you Andrea!) I am posting a photo of the world’s cutest Welsh Corgi Puppy. My new puppy is named in honor of Ernest Shackleton, one of the great … Continue reading In Honor of Ernest Shackleton →

Last week the New York Times reported an interesting, and unusual, use of restorative justice in a murder case in Florida.  The parents of a young woman who was killed by her boyfriend, along with the boyfriend, his parents, and the prosecutor, all participated in a pre-trial restorative justice process.  Ultimately the prosecutor offered a plea … Continue reading Restorative Justice for Murder? →