Such a Joy!

As the LEAPS Panels and website are now in place, I thought it might be interesting to share this experience. Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining a colleague of mine in his first year property class. He was using, for the first time, a commercial lease negotiation exercise in his class. This particular colleague … Continue reading Such a Joy!

Hot off the Press

This morning I found a new law review article waiting for me in my office—hand delivered by the author, and my dear colleague, Michael Z. Green. The article is: Reading Ricci and Pyett to Provide Racial Justice Through Union Arbitration, 87 Ind. L.J. 367 (2012). The abstract is: Despite a longstanding strategy employed by labor … Continue reading Hot off the Press

Sesame Street Dispute Resolution and the Supreme Court

Jean Sternlight and one of my students sent me this link from Sesame Street in which Justice Sotomayor engages in some “dispute resolution”. Seems more like evaluative mediation to me. Very amusing! Goldilocks Avoids Criminal Sanction When Sotomayor Judges Dispute on Sesame Street http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/goldilocks_avoids_criminal_sanction_when_sotomayor_judges_dispute_on_sesame/

Credit Card Arbitration Antitrust Suit Goes Forward

A federal judge in Manhattan has denied summary judgment in an antitrust suit against Citigroup and Discover Bank alleging that they conspired with other banks to add arbitration clauses to their credit card agreements in order to  curb class actions. The case alleges that the banks formed an “Arbitration Coalition” that met multiple times between … Continue reading Credit Card Arbitration Antitrust Suit Goes Forward

>$3B in Federal Settlements Last Year

The National Law Journal’s online edition ran a story this morning (available here, text pasted below) about the more then $3 billion the federal government paid out in settlements in 2011.  The Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Interior led the way in settling “mega-cases,” payment for which apparently comes from the Judgment Fund.  I’ve been … Continue reading >$3B in Federal Settlements Last Year

Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Agreement Unconscionable

There appears to be some life left in the “vindication of statutory rights” argument following Concepcion and Stolt-Nielsen after all! The Second Circuit, in In re: American Express Merchants’ Litigation, 06-1871 (2d Cir. 2012), held that a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement can be ruled unconscionable if the plaintiff (here, a merchant) can … Continue reading Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Agreement Unconscionable

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