Florida has ended its foreclosure mediation program begun in 2009. The state Supreme Court scuttled the program because it was only settling 4% of the cases. It appears the program had lots of problems, including a failure to contact borrowers and a resistance by lenders to participate actively. What else is new? The legislatures and … Continue reading Florida Foreclosure Mediation Program Ends with a Yawn
Sarah Cole recently published On Babies and Bathwater: The Arbitration Fairness Act and the Supreme Court’s Recent Arbitration Jurisprudence, 48 Houston L. Rev. 457 (2011) (available here). She writes, “The AFA misses the mark primarily because it overstates the case against arbitration, rendering the legislation unpalatable to corporate and business interests, as well as many … Continue reading Sarah Cole vs. (part of prior versions of) The Arbitration Fairness Act
OK, we all send reprints to each other, and that’s good. And many of us scribble little personalized notes to each other on the reprints, and that’s good, too. In theory, though, the personalized note should cause the recipient to want to read the article in question. Below is an example of not that: +MM
In late November, a first-of-its-kind arbitration ended when the mobile phone technology companies Skyworks and AATI settled their dispute over their failed merger. Although there was no award, the arbitration was significant because the arbitrator was a judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery–which just happens to be the court in which the claim was … Continue reading In Court, but Out of Sight: Chancery Court Arbitration
I was not aware that Outer Space Activities were so conflict-laden. I learned today that, last week, the Administrative Council of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (the “PCA”) adopted the “PCA Optional Rules for the Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities.” According to the PCA’s announcement, the “project was set in motion in … Continue reading This is Out of this World…
In Buckeye Check Cashing v. Cardegna, Justice Scalia authored an opinion for the Supreme Court holding that, where a consumer credit contract contains an arbitration provision, the arbitrator rather than a court decides all questions about the legality of the underlying debt instrument. Buckeye’s holding was controversial, because it effectively pushes a consumer debtor into arbitration … Continue reading Originalism, Arbitration, and the Civil Jury
Over the past 18 months, the Supreme Court has become increasingly brazen in using the Federal Arbitration Act to cut off procedural rights–and in the process substantive rights–established by Congress and state legislatures. Through its decisions in Rent-a-Center, Stolt-Nielsen, and Concepcion, the Court has handed the Chamber of Commerce a simple recipe for relieving itself of many of … Continue reading Occupy Arbitration? Judicial Nonviolent Resistance
Tomorrow, FINRA’s Board of Governors is holding its December 2011 meeting, and on its agenda are several rule proposals in the Dispute Resolution area. FINRA has been very active in continuously reforming and updating its Codes of Procedure for arbitration and mediation, to address concerns and critique from its various constituents. The proposals related to FINRA … Continue reading FINRA’s Board of Governors to Consider Several DR Proposals
Friday’s scholarship roundtable at Wash U was great, and I hope you enjoyed the nearly live blogging. It’s always a good time to talk about good papers to help make them better, to catch up w/ folks in the field, and to meet some new people. I know that the comments I received will make … Continue reading New Directions in Negotiation and ADR – reflections
Finishing up on the Wash U ADR roundtable, here is the discussion surrounding John’s paper. Not surprisingly John states that our teaching goal is teach students to negotiate effectively. One criticism he has of the current method is that we tend to focus on negotiating w/ counterparts on the “ultimate” negotiation that is limited to … Continue reading John Lande (Missouri) – Teaching Students to Negotiate Like a Lawyer
