Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog

International: Spain Launches Civil Mediation Program

By Victoria VanBuren - January 27, 2010

Jose Antonio Garcia Alvaro from ADR Resources (ARyME) reports: In Spain, Catalonia has always been a step ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to mediation. Catalonia was the first region in the country to pass an act regulating family mediation, and the first ever to legislate civil mediation at large. Valladolid (a province of the larger Castilla-León region) follows suit, and has decided to pilot-test a court-annexed program on civil

U.S. Arbitration and Mediation Legislative Update

By Victoria VanBuren - January 25, 2010

The following bills relating to alternative dispute resolution were introduced by the 111st Congress. Click on the bill number to read its text and on the status link to find the bill’s most recent legislative action. Stay tuned to Disputing for more legislative updates! Bills that passed: “An Act Making Appropriations for the Department of Defense for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2010, and for Other Purposes” contains an amen

Mediation in Healthcare: Interview with Healthcare Neutral Richard Webb

By Victoria VanBuren - January 22, 2010

by Holly Hayes I recently conducted a Q & A via email with Richard J. Webb (pictured left) who writes the Healthcare Neutral Blog. Mr. Webb is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1975) and the Duke University School of Law (J.D. 1978). His additional alternative dispute resolution training currently amounts to 177 hours of classroom time, including 60 hours of advanced mediation courses at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resoluti

More on ‘Bad Faith’ Mediation in Texas

By Victoria VanBuren - January 21, 2010

by Holly Hayes In the Winter edition of the Texas Mediator, Susan Schultz calls for the “mediation community to engage in communal reflection” regarding the passage of the bad faith section of Texas HB 2256 which requires the mediator to report “bad faith mediation”. Overall, the bill provides a procedure for mediation of out-of-network health benefit claim disputes. (read more here) In her article, ‘Bad Faith Mediat

2009 Year-End Highlights: Arbitration and Mediation

By Victoria VanBuren - January 20, 2010

Yesterday’s post concludes our 2009 Year-End Highlights series. If you missed some of the posts, you can find them here or by following the ‘2009 Year-End Highlights’ link on the right, under ‘Categories.’

2009 Arbitration Case Law: Fifth Circuit

By Victoria VanBuren - January 19, 2010

In 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided the following arbitration-related cases: In Cont’l Airlines, Inc. v. Air Line Pilots Ass’n, No. 07-20835 (5th Cir. Jan. 13, 2009) the court concluded that the district court had no statutory authority to reverse a reinstatement order issued by the System Board of Adjustment and that its order cannot be sustained on grounds of public policy. In Agere Systems Inc. v. Samsung

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Arbitration Unconscionability Case

By Victoria VanBuren - January 18, 2010

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to Jackson v. Rent-A-CenterWest, Inc. , No. 07-16164 (9th Cir. Sept. 9, 2009). The question presented is whether a district court is in all cases required to determine claims that an arbitration agreement subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) is unconscionable, even when the parties to the contract have clearly and unmistakably assigned this “gateway” issue to the arbitrator for d

GUEST-POST | 210 Billion Emails Sent Each Day –It’s Time to Use eMediation or Special Masters in eDiscovery – Webcast on February 16, 2010 (State Bar of Texas CLE)

By Victoria VanBuren - January 15, 2010

by Peter S. Vogel Recent surveys indicate that there are over 210 billion emails sent each day, which does not include the more than 1 trillion text messages sent in 2008. eDiscovery has impacted every lawsuit in every courthouse, and with this unbelievable number of emails and text messages litigation will never be the same. After the Guest Post last November about Allison Skinner’s Brilliant idea about eMediation, Allison and I have received gr

International: Why Further Development of ADR in Latin America Makes Sense

By Victoria VanBuren - January 14, 2010

We came across a very interesting article entitled “Why Further Development of ADR in Latin America Makes Sense: The Venezuelan Model,” by Jose Alberto Ramirez Leon, 2 Journal of Dispute Resolution 399 (2005). The article provides an overview of the problems with the Venezuelan system of justice, ADR developments in the country, obstacles for further development of ADR in Venezuela, and proposals to overcome those obstacles. Here is a