Professor John Lande of the University of Missouri School of Law has authored a thoughtful paper entitled Lessons from Mediators’ Stories, 34 Cardozo Law Review (Forthcoming August 2013); This article is part of a symposium discussing the book, Stories Mediators Tell, edited by Eric Galton and Lela Love.

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Last week, the United States Supreme Court reportedly refused to consider two wrongful death cases against nursing homes in Illinois and Kentucky where the plaintiff signed an arbitration agreement. After a number of appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court held that Carter’s lawsuit could proceed despite that she signed the agreement to arbitrate.

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The Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas has affirmed a lower court’s decision to confirm an arbitral award in a construction dispute. In Goldman v. Buchanan, Beryl Goldman entered into a contract to design and build a new house with an architect, Russell Buchanan, and a builder, Lawrence Wallace. The parties' agreement contained an arbitration provision.

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In a recent paper entitled "Arbitration and Access to Justice: Economic Analysis", University of Chicago Law School Professor Omri Ben-Shahar argues that mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts generally benefit most consumers. He also states that limiting access to arbitration in favor of a courtroom often provides an advantage to only the most elite consumers.

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Since 2000, the World intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has provided arbitration services for alleged cybersquatting disputes. Last year, the number of domain name disputes arbitrated through WIPO jumped by an estimated five percent to reach nearly 3,000.

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Last week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Board approved a measure that may make it easier for investors to select arbitrators in a dispute against a securities brokerage. The newly approved measure would authorize the parties to a dispute that exceeds $100,000 to select a panel chairman, a public arbitrator, and an arbitrator with industry ties from a FINRA list immediately.

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The Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas has ruled in an interlocutory appeal that a lower court committed error when it denied a company’s motion to compel arbitration. In Phytel, Inc. v. Smiley, No. 05-12-00607-CV, (Tex. App.--Dallas Apr. 5, 2013, no. pet. h.), James Smiley was a former Chief Executive Officer at Phytel, Inc.

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According to the Appeals Court, Supreme Court precedent required the three-judge panel to interpret the Federal Arbitration Act in such a way that favors an agreement to arbitrate even in cases that involve federal statutory claims. This holding is especially significant because the burden of proof regarding the alleged pattern of discrimination would have reportedly shifted to Goldman Sachs if the court had held that Parisi was allowed to pursue

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Part Three: Determining the Current Use of ARD by Fortune 1,000 Corporate Counsel.

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The United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s order vacating an arbitral award in a dispute between a video game publisher and developer. After Gamecock filed a motion to confirm the arbitral award in district court, Timegate argued the arbitrator exceeded his authority in crafting the perpetual license portion of the award.

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