Business Conflict Blog

One of the most interesting sessions at the ABA Dispute Resolution meeting in Washington was a report on an initiative of the Straus Institute at Pepperdine and the Dickerson School of Law at Penn State:  A National Roundtable on Consumer and Employment Dispute Resolution. 

Consumer and employment arbitration is a difficult topic upon which to find rational discourse.  It seems that folks tend to follow Pogo’s advice: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of your research.”  Yet here are Co-Chairs Tom Stipanowich and Nancy Welsh forming a Planning Committee comprising Lisa Bingham, Larry Mills and Homer LaRue to invite 30 scholars, advocates, representatives, policymakers and ADR professionals to have a rational conversation on the topic last February.  The session was conducted under “Chatham House Rules“  and a summary report reveals not only the topics discussed, but a work plan coming out of the initiative.

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Tags: ADR, Arbitration, Employment, Mediation, Public Policy

J. Michael Hand didn’t like the Walnut Valley Sailing Club’s storage shed.  A member of the club, though not disabled himself, Mr. Hand thought the structure didn’t comply with the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  So he sued.

The Walnut Valley Sailing Club didn’t like being sued, and it terminated Mr. Hand’s membership in the club.

Mr. Hand didn’t like getting terminated, so he sued again, this time for unlawful retaliation under the ADA.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas ordered the parties to mediation, which proved unsuccessful.  And after the mediation Mr. Hand sent an e-mail to at least 44 club members (and others) disparaging the club’s positions and relating all the details of the mediation, including what the mediator said and the amount of the club’s settlement offer.

The District Court didn’t like that.  Indeed, it didn’t like it so much that it dismissed Mr. Hand’s suit with prejudice, by way of sanction.  Mr. Hand did what any good American would do — he appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Read more »

Tags: Courts, Mediation, Public Policy

I remember attending the first meeting of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association, in Boston, in 1999. I was on a panel discussing Y2K, and absolutely everybody I had ever met in ADR was in attendance. Y2K has since moved on, but the ABA Dispute Resolution Section has grown and grown. It meets this year in Washington DC and the schedule is so full it’s like a three-ring circus: You attend one thing, all the time kicking yourself because you’re missing two others.

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Tags: ADR, ADR Institutions, Arbitration, Mediation

This post continues a discussion of some recent court opinions concerning the enforceability of settlement agreements reached during mediation, but subsequently disowned by one of the parties.

In Williamson v. Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (N.J. App. Div. A-6291-10T1, March 12, 2012), plaintiff sought damages from her employer for alleged violations of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and other related theories.  The parties participated in voluntary, private mediation that lasted nine hours.  At the conclusion of the mediation, a document was signed by plaintiff, the defendants’ attorney and the mediator(!), reciting that plaintiff would dismiss her complaint with prejudice and receive certain payments and other benefits from defendants. Read more »

Tags: Mediation