Litigation

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

The President has signed into law a program giving closed auto dealerships access to neutral arbitration if they want to be reinstated. The process begins immediately and is expected to take six and one half months. For more information on how the auto dealer arbitration process will work see:

http://www.autonews.com/article/

For more information on how the arbitration process can work for you and your business, please contact our office.

Stephen P. Lagoy

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

Congress has approved a plan that would allow 2000 terminated car dealers to pursue third party mediation and arbitration with GM and Chrysler with the possibility of being reinstated. For an analysis of this alternative dispute resolution process and its chances of being successful, see http://online.wsj.com/article/.

For more information how mediation and arbitration can work for your business, please contact Stephen P. Lagoy.

Stephen P. Lagoy is an attorney practicing in West Chester, PA. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and the PA Council of Mediators.

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

At this time of year, sports pages are filled with articles about whether or not major league baseball teams have “offered arbitration” to their free agent players.   What does this mean and what are the implications of the decision?  For a primer on this subject, see http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/the-arbitration-decision/. For a discussion of the concept of “baseball arbitration”, see our previous blog about arbitration in the Major League here.

For more information, contact our office.

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

An insurance industry group will experiment with an expedited form of binding arbitration designed for small, uncomplicated disputes. The Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Companies has announced the development of a new streamlined dispute resolution procedure the elements of which include a single arbitrator, discounted fee structure, and no discovery or hearing testimony without consent of the parties. The arbitrator must issue a decision within 30 days after the close of evidence.

To read more about this streamlined process, see http://www.businessinsurance.com

For more information, please contact our office.

By: Nancy J. Glidden

Many litigants and counsel may not be aware that a process for alternate dispute resolution exists in the Superior Court during the pendency of an appeal. The Pennsylvania Superior Court has an “Appellate Mediation Program.” The Program provides a potential means for resolving disputes that is faster, more economical, and more likely to result in a satisfactory outcome than would otherwise be the case with a full appeal. Certain civil, family-related and Orphans’ Court matters may be particularly well-suited for resolution through mediation. If selected for mediation, the process occurs during the pre-briefing phase of the appeal. To learn more about the Program and the process for having a matter submitted to mediation please refer to this article or contact Nancy J. Glidden.

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

An experienced commercial mediator told me about a recent mediation in which there was a great deal of animosity among the parties, so much so that they refused to be in the same room at any point in the mediation. During the course of the mediation, my colleague served several platters of homemade cookies. Not having enough arms to distribute the platters herself, she asked one of the participants to bring a platter of cookies to the conference room occupied by “the other side.” Much to the mediator’s surprise, not only were the cookies accepted gratefully, but the person delivering the cookies was invited into the room and dialogue ensued. Before long, the parties were fully engaged and this seemingly irresolvable conflict proceeded to an amicable resolution. Could it be that cookies resolved the controversy?

In fact, there is a good neuroscientific explanation for what may have happened. The ingestion of food produces a hormone called oxytocin, which has been shown to increase trust and empathy while reducing fear. And eating together is a well recognized trust- builder. So, the mediator’s cookies may well have contributed to the sudden onset of civility among the parties. The moral of this story: the next time you are embroiled in a controversy, break out the Tastykakes.

For more information, contact Stephen P. Lagoy

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

Investment losses? Here’s an article that explains how you may be able to use arbitration to recover.

http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/Fund-Observer/2009/09/23/could-arbitration-help-you-recover-investment-losses.html

For more information on how arbitration, mediation and alternate dispute resolution can help you and your business, contact our office.

by: Stephen P. Lagoy

Here is an article from the Dallas Morning News on arbitrators that you may find interesting.  For more information on how alternative dispute resolution, mediation or arbitration could help you, please contact our office.

By: Stephen P. Lagoy

Stephen P. Lagoy

It has been estimated that, if all costs are included, Fortune 500 Companies’ total litigation costs average about one-third of their after-tax profits!  This fact has led large corporations to increasingly utilize creative non-traditional approaches to dispute resolution.  One advantage of private dispute resolution is that the parties can customize the process by which the dispute will be resolved rather than having the process imposed by the Federal or State Rules of Civil Procedure.  This can result in substantial savings.  For example, some corporations submit claims to mediation early in the process – in some cases, before suit is filed — before full-blown (translation: expensive) discovery has taken place.  Parties agree to narrow the scope of discovery to a limited amount of information seen as critical to the resolution of the dispute.   For disputes settled at this stage, the discovery cost savings can be substantial.

For more information on how ADR can help you, please contact our office.

By: Stephen P.  Lagoy

You may find interesting retired Justice O’Connor’s view on arbitration in this excerpt from the August 10, 2009 on line edition of the Wall Street Journal:

WSJ: Has your circuit service affected your views of mediation, arbitration and other alternatives to litigation?

Justice O’Connor: Well, I have been a strong advocate for alternative dispute resolution ever since I was a state court judge. I found a need for alternative dispute resolution and I found it more satisfactory in many cases for the litigants than going to court. For instance, the mediation of a case means that each side gets to meet separately with the mediator and tell him just what they think without objections and interruptions from counsel. They get to tell their story as they want to tell it. And that is so therapeutic for them. The mediator had to get to the nub of it and eliminate the stuff they shouldn’t consider. But in terms of the litigants themselves, we know that very often it is more satisfactory to them to have gone through that process than through an ordinary trial court process. And depending on the circumstances it might be much less expensive. But it depends on the state and the system and the whole ball of wax. It could be just as expensive and just as frustrating. But I think in general terms it’s provided a welcome alternative to litigation.

Read the full article here.

For more information on how arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution could help you, please contact our office.