Last month, the online community (that’s pretty much the whole world, folks) was stunned by a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“EU COJ”), which held individuals had a right to request that Google remove data “that appear to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed and in the light of the time that has elapsed.” The May 13th ruling quickly became known as the “Right to be forgotten” decision. Although the holding does not apply in the United States, and First Amendment issues would very likely dictate a different outcome here, the implications are potentially enormous.
In today’s fast-paced tech world, it’s critical to stay ahead of emerging trends from both product development and transactional administration. In an effort to compare traditional court litigation to increasingly popular methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in technology-related disputes, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) commissioned the International Survey On Dispute Resolution In Technology…
Ten Things about Litigation that Arbitration Critics Won’t Tell You by George H. Friedman* The recent uproar over General Mills’ decision to adopt and later retract a new policy by which consumers, by engaging in activities such as downloading a recipe, or participating in a contest, or “liking” the firm on Facebook, would unwittingly be…
What do A-Rod, the NLRB, and General Mills have in Common? The title of this post is not a riddle. On Jeopardy! it would be the correct response to “They evidently read George Friedman’s blog at Arbitration Resolution Services.” Three times in recent months, I have blogged about the above cast of characters, and urged…
Enough is Enough: Time to Eliminate the “Hidden Arbitration Clause Trick” “A day of reckoning is coming on predispute arbitration agreements in consumer arbitration. A dichotomy is developing between arms-length pre-dispute arbitration agreements and those imposed in an adhesion contract with consumers (and perhaps employees). This will be addressed in the next several years by…
A George Bailey “Hat Trick” – Et Tu, 9th Circuit? Several months ago in this blog I described a “hat trick,” which is a hockey term for when a player scores three (or more) goals in one game. For those who have somehow eluded ever seeing the holiday classic “It’s a wonderful Life,” the other…
Late last month in this blog, I wrote that the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) was “cruisin’ for a bruisin’” on its arbitration policy. To review, and borrowing heavily from my own work, the NLRB had ruled previously in the D.R. Horton matter that a predispute arbitration agreement (“PDAA”) containing a class action waiver violated…
The A-Rod Saga: Batting 1.000 So Far (See For Yourself) My previous blog post here on the A-Rod saga (A-Rod’s Chances on Appeal: Rock, Meet Hill) contained some predictions. Several have already have come to pass; so far I am batting 1.000. A-Rod would Bring Legal Action to Vacate Award First, I predicted…
In short there are three takeaways here: 1) labor arbitration is a different animal, but the scope of court review of arbitration awards is very limited, just as in business or consumer arbitrations; 2) A-Rod is pushing the proverbial rock up a hill with his announced intention to appeal Arbitrator Horowitz’s decision that he be suspended for 162 games (an entire season); and 3) there is a small window of opportunity that might allow him to play this year.
The story becomes more complicated when Citigroup and the individual broker sought to challenge the award in state court on the grounds of manifest disregard of law, and bias because two of the arbitrators failed to make required disclosures. It turns out the parties appeared to have settled their dispute before the arbitration was commenced. This the court seizes on without addressing the arbitrator disclosure issue.