Archive for the ‘Small Business B-2-B Arbitration’ Category

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Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.B.2(A): Other Structural Aspects of Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements—What am I Agreeing to Arbitrate?

January 2nd, 2014 Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Making Decisions about Arbitration, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.B.2(A): Other Structural Aspects of Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements—What am I Agreeing to Arbitrate?

In the last installment of our B-2-B Arbitration series we focused on one of the most important structural aspects of pre-dispute arbitration agreements: the mutual promise to submit disputes to arbitration, what it means and how its performance by the parties through their post-dispute submission defines and delimits the scope of authority parties actually delegate—as opposed to promise to delegate—to arbitrators to resolve particular disputes.

But there are other important structural aspects of arbitration agreements about which business people should be mindful if they wish to make informed decisions about arbitration. While a comprehensive discussion of them would be far beyond the scope of this post, let’s focus briefly on arbitration-agreement terms that bear on the following questions: Continue Reading »

Improving Arbitration-Award Making and Enforcement by Faithfully Implementing the Purposes and Objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act

November 13th, 2013 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, General, Grounds for Vacatur, Practice and Procedure, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration, United States Supreme Court Comments Off on Improving Arbitration-Award Making and Enforcement by Faithfully Implementing the Purposes and Objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act

Part II:

A Consent-Based Framework

for Making and Enforcing Arbitration Awards

Introduction

In Part I we argued that improving arbitration in general—and the award making and enforcement process in particular—requires persons with a stake in arbitration’s success to adjust how they think about arbitration. We also argued that the purposes and objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”) provide a relatively simple analytical framework which, if consistently and properly applied, can help persons with a stake in arbitration’s continued success make decisions that should help facilitate the achievement of that goal.

This Part II discusses that analytical framework, which is based on United States Supreme Court interpretations of the FAA and its purposes and objectives. It posits that arbitration’s improvement and continued success as a dispute resolution mechanism for a broad range of disputes depends on it being an attractive alternative to litigation, and that arbitration can remain such an attractive alternative for a broad range of disputes only if courts, arbitrators, and parties fully and forthrightly accept that arbitration is a matter of contract, and that the awards that it yields should be freely and summarily enforced, provided that they represent a legitimate product of the agreement to arbitrate. Continue Reading »

Improving Arbitration-Award Making and Enforcement by Faithfully Implementing the Purposes and Objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act

November 12th, 2013 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, General, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Improving Arbitration-Award Making and Enforcement by Faithfully Implementing the Purposes and Objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act

Part I:

An Introduction to the Problem and its Solution

Arbitration can be a very effective way of resolving a wide range of disputes arising out of many legal and commercial relationships. It can benefit the parties if they make informed decisions about agreeing to it, and craft their agreement accordingly. It can benefit the courts and the general public by shifting to the private sector dispute-resolution costs that the public-sector would otherwise bear.

Arbitration is not a perfect form of dispute resolution (and none is, including court litigation). That is so even when parties carefully draft their arbitration agreements, and the parties, arbitrators, arbitration service providers and courts do their best to ensure the integrity and reliability of the process and otherwise strive to protect the legitimate expectations of the parties. But at least over the last couple of decades or so, arbitration has, in the opinion of many, become a less attractive alternative to court litigation than it was intended to be, could be and once was. Continue Reading »

Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.B: How Arbitration Agreements Work

October 17th, 2013 Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Making Decisions about Arbitration, Practice and Procedure, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.B: How Arbitration Agreements Work

Part II.B.1: Delegating Authority

The Arbitration Agreement and the Submission

If you’ve followed this series from inception you already know that the decision to agree to arbitrate disputes arising out of a transaction, and if so, under what terms, can be as important as any other decision a business must make about price and performance terms. Armed with sufficient knowledge about how arbitration and arbitration-law works, business people and their lawyers can make better-informed choices about arbitration, including whether seeking advice from an attorney with arbitration and arbitration-law experience is warranted in the circumstances. All else equal, a business that makes informed choices about transaction terms—including dispute resolution terms—increases the odds that the transaction will work as the parties intended.

Knowledge of how arbitration agreements are structured and how they work is essential to appreciate the risks and benefits associated with arbitration. Part II.B of the series is designed to introduce the basics of pre-dispute-arbitration-agreement structure and function. This Part II.B.1 focuses on the nature of the pre-dispute promise to arbitrate, how that promise is implemented by the post-dispute submission and the nature and extent of the power parties delegate to an arbitrator by way of their submission. Continue Reading »

Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.A: The Nature and Purpose of Arbitration

July 12th, 2013 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, General, Making Decisions about Arbitration, Mediation, Negotiation, Practice and Procedure, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part II.A: The Nature and Purpose of Arbitration

The long- and short-term success of a business is generally measured by the economic benefits it produces for its investors.  Most business decisions require a business to accept risks of varying severity and frequency if the business is going to realize a meaningful return on investment.  All else being equal, to increase the likelihood that those decisions will yield profits, the business must accurately assess all material risks, their corresponding benefits and the interplay between the two.

The same holds true for the decision whether to make an arbitration agreement part of a business transaction, and if so, on what terms.  But in the author’s experience otherwise savvy and intelligent small-business-persons frequently view an arbitration agreement as a throw-in term that isn’t likely to affect materially the risk-benefit calculus of the transaction as a whole.  These business persons are therefore likely to agree to arbitrate with a more economically powerful counterpart without giving the matter much thought, let alone the careful thought they devote to the price and performance terms of the deal.  This approach, as a number of business people have learned the hard way over the years, can result in a very frustrating and potentially debilitating one-two punch:  dashed reasonable expectations coupled with very little, if any, meaningful judicial review. Continue Reading »

Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part I: Introduction — Should we Make Arbitration Part of the Deal?

March 28th, 2013 Arbitration Agreements, Making Decisions about Arbitration, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Part I: Introduction — Should we Make Arbitration Part of the Deal?

Small businesses (including sole proprietors) frequently must negotiate arms-length commercial transactions with their more economically powerful counterparts and,  not infrequently, must decide whether to accept an offer to make an arbitration agreement part of the deal.  Whether or not to accept that invitation, and, if so, under what terms, may seem like a straightforward question susceptible to an easy answer, and it can be tempting to think that the risks associated with making the wrong choice are minimal, even in the event that a dispute arises and a party demands arbitration.

Yet any businessperson who has found herself at the wrong end of an out-of-whack-but-unlikely-to-be-vacated arbitration award will surely question the validity of that assumption,  irrespective of whether she relied upon it when she agreed to arbitrate.  Arbitration can offer some significant benefits, but to achieve them one must accept some significant risks.  Whether or not to agree to it in the context of any particular deal is a decision requiring meaningful due diligence tailored to address the specifics of the contemplated transaction that may give rise to a dispute subject to arbitration. Continue Reading »

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