Jean R. Sternlight, Director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law has authored Disarming Employees: How American Employers are Using Mandatory Arbitration to Deprive Workers of Legal Protection, Brooklyn Law Review, Vol. 80, 2015, Forthcoming.

ConocoPhillips has reportedly filed for arbitration against the Venezuela state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (“PDVSA”). According to ConocoPhillips’ request to the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”), PDVSA failed to pay the company the contractual compensation owed to it over the Petrozuata and Hamaca heavy crude oil projects.

The Northern District of Texas has ordered a portion of a dispute between a medical practice and an insurance company to arbitration and urged the parties to mediate their remaining claims. In Infectious Disease Doctors P. A. v. Bluecross Blueshield of Texas, No. 3:13-CV-02920-L (N. D. Tex., September 30, 2014), an infectious disease medical practice, Infectious Disease Doctors (“IDD”), sought payment from Bluecross Blueshield of Texas (“BCBSTX”) for services rendered to patients in Texas by several of the practice’s 11 physicians between 2009 and 2013. Before the dispute arose, three of the IDD physicians signed a group managed care agreement with BCBSTX and Genesis Physician’s Group.

According to a Texas Lawyer article published this week, the arbitration of energy sector disputes has dramatically increased across Texas in recent years. In EnergyBuzz: Arbitration for Energy Disputes, Scott D. Marrs and Andrew B. Barton state that horizontal drilling and fracking in Texas may result in “complex energy disputes that often cross jurisdictional boundaries.”