The Vice President has cast a tie-breaking vote in the United States Senate to rescind a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) rule that prohibits most financial service providers such as banks and credit card issuers from requiring consumers to sign mandatory arbitration agreements barring class-action lawsuits.
Continue reading...The legal saga over a National Football League (“NFL”) running back’s controversial six-game suspension has continued on in various federal courts.
Continue reading...Professor Margaret L. Moses, Director of the International Law and Practice Program at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, has published “How the Supreme Court’s Misconstruction of the FAA Has Affected Consumers,” Forthcoming, Loyola Consumer Law Review, Vol 30, 2017.
Continue reading...On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States denied a petition for certiorari that was filed by a group of former Ponzi scheme financial advisers.
Continue reading...The Texas Attorney General has reportedly joined a bipartisan group comprised of representatives from 56 states and U.S. territories in a call for federal legislation that would prohibit employers from requiring victims of workplace sexual harassment to engage in mandatory arbitration.
Continue reading...A team of University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) students placed first in the advocate/client division and won the Dan Stamatelos National Trophy for Advocacy at the National Mediation Tournament held November 4-6 at the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. 32 teams from 19 schools located across the nation participated in the tournament. An additional UT Dallas team placed second in the advocate/client division, making UT Dallas the only school in attendance to have two teams make it to the final rounds. Last year, a UT Dallas team also took home top honors. The tournament is sponsored annually by The International Academy of Dispute Resolution “to emphasize alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques and to provide a counterbalance to Moot Court and Mock Trial, which emphasize the adversarial side of the law.” A mediation round consists of advocate/client pairs from two schools, and mediators from two other schools. The competitors are given a simulated dispute to settle. Advocacy teams are judged on their ability to state their positions but show flexibility in working toward a solution. Mediators are judged on their ability to react to the demands of the advocates and clients and to facilitate a possible settlement. The students who made up the teams that represent the University this year consisted of: Taylor Brigance, senior international political economy major. Dionna Budd, junior political science major. Shannon Bumpas, senior accounting major. Ryan Campbell, senior interdisciplinary studies major. Dina Shahrokhi, senior political science major. Richard Stees, senior business administration major. Last year the UT Dallas team of Shahrokhi, Bumpas and Megan Newman (BA ’10) won the national championship in the advocate/client division. Disputing would like extend our to congratulations to the UT Dallas teams. You may read more about the award here. Technorati Tags: ADR, law, mediation
Continue reading...by Holly Hayes President Obama’s Plan on Health Care (discussed here and outlined here) includes a provision on medical malpractice reform that instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Following are some responses from industry leaders: American Hospital Association (AHA) President and CEO, Rich Umbdenstock, said, “We appreciate the President’s willingness to explore better alternatives to today’s medical liability system, and urge that even stronger actions be taken in this area to reign in excessive lawsuits that are currently driving physicians to practice defensive medicine and raise the cost of care for everyone.” (find the statement here) American Medical Association (AMA) President, J. James Rohack, MD, comments, “President Obama recognized what physicians have long known – that medical liability reform is needed to bring down the cost of health care, and he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to take action now. Recognizing the critical need for medical liability reform is an important step toward reducing unnecessary costs. Everyday physicians across the country are forced to consider the broken medical liability system when making decisions, resulting in defensive medicine that adds to unnecessary health costs. We cannot ignore this problem if health-system reform is going to address the growing cost of care.” (find the statement here) American Nursing Association (ANA) President Rebecca Patton praised President Obama at his first public appearance on health care reform since addressing Congress for advocating for people who lack access to basic health care services in the nation’s “broken system” and for fighting for consumer protections in the health insurance market. (find the statement here) Technorati Tags: Tort Reform, Healthcare President Obama, speech September 9, arbitration, ADR, law, mediation Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at: holly@karlbayer.com.
Continue reading...President Obama’s speech (text is here and videos: Parts I, II, III, IV, and V) to a joint session of the U.S.Congress delivered on September 9, briefly mentioned a proposal to move the medical malpractice lawsuits out of the court system and before mediators, medical expert panels, and arbitrators. Although we have not been able to find out the details of the plan –it appears that it will be announced within a month– here is what some commentators are saying about it: States Could Offer Template for Revising Malpractice Law. Some states (Michigan, Minnesota, Kentucky, and others) have adopted a system that allows doctors to disclose medical errors and then enter into mediation to resolve the dispute. Other states (Florida, Georgia, and Illinois) require plaintiffs to have their case reviewed by physicians before the case is filed in court. (read more here) Obama Bucks the Trial Lawyers: Is Med-Mal Reform Imminent? A similar proposal on medical malpractice plan for tort reform was first outlined by President George W. Bush. According to this article, President Obama’s reform would be in the form of an executive order, not via legislation. (read more here) Tort Reform: Obama’s Silver Bullet. The reform on top of the list, “early disclosure” by doctors was proposed by then-Senator Obama and co-sponsored by Hillary Clinton. The second reform would require any Complainant to obtain an affidavit stating the the claim has merits. According to this report, both measures have been accepted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as amendments to the health-reform legislation. (read more here) Read coverage at the BBC, WSJ, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. Stay tuned to Disputing for updates on this controversial topic! Technorati Tags: Tort Reform, Healthcare President Obama, speech September 9, arbitration, ADR, law, mediation
Continue reading...Disputing is published by Karl Bayer, a dispute resolution expert based in Austin, Texas. Articles published on Disputing aim to provide original insight and commentary around issues related to arbitration, mediation and the alternative dispute resolution industry.
To learn more about Karl and his team, or to schedule a mediation or arbitration with Karl’s live scheduling calendar, visit www.karlbayer.com.
Disputing is published by Karl Bayer, a dispute resolution expert based in Austin, Texas. Articles published on Disputing aim to provide original insight and commentary around issues related to arbitration, mediation and the alternative dispute resolution industry.
To learn more about Karl and his team, or to schedule a mediation or arbitration with Karl’s live scheduling calendar, visit www.karlbayer.com.