The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which administers the arbitration program to which brokerage customers must bring their complaints, is considering using arbitration panels comprising all “non-industry” members.  Presently, panels must include at least one industry member among the three-person panel.  The remaining member(s) are “public” (i.e. from outside the brokerage industry).  FINRA is now running a pilot program that allows parties to choose an all-public panel.  This move may be in response to public criticism of FINRA’s arbitration program as being too lenient on brokerage misconduct. For more on the FINRA program and how securities arbitration works, see Forexyard News.

If you would like to know more about arbitration and how it may be used effectively as an alternative to court litigation, please call Stephen Lagoy.

After initially indicating that terminated dealers would be reinstated through the federally-mandated arbitration procedure or not at all [see blog post: Chrysler and GM Take Different Approaches to Dealer Arbitration], Chrysler now says that it will offer to reinstate 50 of the 789 dealerships it terminated last year.  The auto manufacturer also indicated that there may be more to come when, in a statement issued on March 26, it said ”discussions to find mutually beneficial alternatives to arbitration with other dealers are under way.”  For more on Chrysler’s changing arbitration posture, see CNN article dated March 3, 2010.

For more information, contact Stephen P. Lagoy.

Unlike GM, which has notified more than half of its terminated dealers that they will be offered reinstatement without going to arbitration, Chrysler has announced that dealer reinstatement will occur through arbitration, or not at all.  The key difference in the approaches of the two auto manufacturers may lie in the fact that Chrysler was in bankruptcy at the time it closed down the dealerships.  The present Chrysler Group is a new company which emerged from bankruptcy and never had a business relationship with the terminated dealers.  For more on Chrysler’s arbitration posture see this article on motortrend.com.

For an explanation of how the federally-mandated arbitration procedure works, see our earlier blog post  “GM and Chrysler Dealers Can Arbitrate“.

For more information, contact Stephen Lagoy.

Baseball arbitrations (see previous blog posts here and here) have become increasingly rare as the owners and players opt to negotiate a contract rather than place their fate in the hands of an arbitration panel. The only exception thus far this year has been the case of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Corey Hart. In the first Major League Baseball salary arbitration this year, Hart won his case against the Brewers. The three-member panel of arbitrators awarded Hart the $4.8 million salary he was seeking for 2010. The Brewers had proposed $4.15 million. Under the rules of baseball arbitration, the arbitrators had to pick one proposal or the other — splitting the difference isn’t permitted.

For a very interesting account of the arbitration procedure in Hart’s case, see:

http://mlb.mlb.com

Contact Steve Lagoy for more information on how the arbitration process can help you and your business.

General Motors is prepared to proceed with a Congressionally-mandated program that will allow 2000 of GM’s closed dealerships to appeal the closure decision through an independent arbitration process. Dealers who want to file for reinstatement must do so through the American Arbitration Association and commence arbitration by Jan. 25. Under the law, decisions must generally be made by June 14. To read more about this arbitration process, see

http://www.detnews.com/20100108 and http://www.detnews.com/20100109

For information on how arbitration can help you, please contact 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 entry here.

Please contact Stephen P. Lagoy for more information on ways the arbitration process can help you.

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.

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.

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