Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog

Legislating ‘Bad Faith’ in Mediation

By Holly Hayes - September 4, 2009

By Holly Hayes Steve Mehta wrote a thoughtful and thought-provoking post on bad faith mediation on his blog Mediation Matters. Mr. Mehta references HB 2256, a Texas law that addresses three things as bad faith: failure to participate, failure to have a full authority representative present, and failing to provide necessary information. It authorizes the mediator to report this conduct. Mr. Mehta notes, “Interestingly, I do not think a statu

Pending Legislation on U.S. Alternative Dispute Resolution: Update

By Victoria VanBuren - August 31, 2009

The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress began on January 3, 2009 and will last till January 3, 2011. Following is a summary of some alternative dispute resolution bills currently being considered during this session. Click on the bill number for its text and on the status link to find the bill’s most recent legislative action. Stay tuned to Disputing for more legislative updates! The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 would ban mandatory pr

American Bar Association’s Resolutions on the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009

By Victoria VanBuren - August 26, 2009

Via the Business Conflict Blog, we learned of the recent ABA Resolutions and Report with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 (for background, click here and here) and its implications to international commercial arbitration. This is the summary: The American Bar Association should support the use of international commercial arbitration and legislation or regulation that recognizes and aids in the enforcement of international commercia

Texas House Bill 2256 and Bad Faith Mediation in ‘Balance Billing’

By Holly Hayes - August 5, 2009

By Holly Hayes As discussed in my previous post, Texas House Bill 2256 was signed into law on June 19, 2009. The bill provides a procedure for mediation of “balance billing,” which is the practice of billing insured patients for amounts or balances not covered by the insurer. HB 2256 also includes the following section on “bad faith” mediation: SUBCHAPTER C. BAD FAITH MEDIATION Sec. 1467.101. BAD FAITH. (a) The following conduct

Testimony from the U.S. Congress Hearing on the Misuse of Arbitration to Collect Consumer Debts

By Victoria VanBuren - July 24, 2009

To follow up on our post of earlier this week, regarding the Congressional hearing on consumer debt arbitration held in Washington D.C. on July 22, we thought we would like to read the Opening Statement by Dennis Kucinich, Chairman, Domestic Policy Subcommittee and the Staff Report. Also, following find links to prepared testimony by the expert witnesses: Testimony of Michael F. Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, National Arbitration Forum Testimony

U.S. Congress Hearing on the Misuse of Arbitration to Collect Consumer Debts

By Victoria VanBuren - July 20, 2009

As announced by this press release, the U.S. Subcommittee on Domestic Policy will hold a hearing related to arbitration on July 22, 2009. The hearing is entitled “Arbitration or ‘Arbitrary’: The Misuse of Arbitration to Collect Consumer Debts.” Experts invited to testify include: Michael Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, National Arbitration Forum Richard W. Naimark, Senior Vice-President, International Centre for Dispute Resolution, a division of

Texas Bar Journal: Letter to the Editor on Improving Arbitration

By Victoria VanBuren - July 17, 2009

[Update: Lee Keller King currently works at this firm.] The July 2009 Edition of Texas Bar Journal titled “The Electronic Lawyer,” features the following letter to the editor written by Texas attorney Lee Keller King. Mr. King writes in response to a Texas Bar Journal article published in May 2009 (blogged here). We welcome your commentary about this post! I am one of those critics who believe that the trend in mandatory arbitration h

Law Journal Article: “Civil Jury Trials R.I.P.? Can it Actually Happen in America?” and the Federal Arbitration Act

By Victoria VanBuren - July 4, 2009

During this Fourth of July holiday weekend, our good friend Don Philbin stumbled across “Civil Jury Trials R.I.P.? Can it Actually Happen in America?” 40 St. Mary’s L.J. 795 written by the Honorable W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. In the article, Judge Furgeson discusses the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, which is analogous to the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 (previously blogged here) currently considered in the U.S. Congress. If

The Employee Free Choice Act: Update

By Victoria VanBuren - July 2, 2009

Via the Adjunct Law Prof Blog, we learned that a new coalition, the Business Leaders for a Fair Economy is speaking out in support of the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009. The coalition released this ad, which claims that 1,000 business leaders agree the Employee Free Choice Act is key to restoring the country’s economy. The Act ( Senate version: S. 560 and Status; House version: H.R. 1409 and Status ) is currently in the U.S. Congress and

Texas HB 2256 Makes Possible a New Mediation Procedure for ‘Balance Billing’

By Holly Hayes - June 29, 2009

By Holly Hayes Texas House Bill 2256 was signed into law on June 19, 2009 and is effective immediately. The bill provides a procedure for mediation of out-of-network health benefit claim disputes. The law now gives patients the option to mediate when they are “balance-billed” by their insurance company for services provided by out-of-network facility-based physicians like radiologists, pathologists, and neonatologists. Balance billing