Category Archives: Arbitration

Bloomberg Story on CFPB’s Arbitration Rule-Making

Here (behind paywall, unfortunately).  Excerpt: When the CFPB may [issue its arbitration rule] is unknown. A spokesman told Bloomberg BNA that the bureau continues to gather information from stakeholders on the arbitration rulemaking. A final regulation is unlikely to take effect before late 2017 or 2018, Joe Olson, a partner and class action defense specialist with Michael […]

Drahozal Article on Confidentiality in Arbitration

Christopher R. Drahozal of Kansas has written Confidentiality in Consumer and Employment Arbitration, 7 Yearbook on Arbitration & Mediation ___ (forthcoming 2015). Here is the abstract: This article examines an apparent misperception among some commentators about the confidentiality of consumer and employment arbitration in the U.S. Arbitration is a private process—i.e., the public cannot attend […]

TheStreet’s Susan Antilla on the Chamber of Commerce

Here.  An excerpt:   [The Chamber] slammed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for sometimes pursuing violators of securities law in the comfort of its in-house courts rather than try the cases in the public courts. There are "substantial differences" in the processes used in the two forums, the Chamber's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness wrote […]

More on Debt Collection and Arbitration

by Jeff Sovern Richard posted a link last week to the Times article about how debt collectors first sue in court and then when consumers sue them, use arbitration clauses to block the consumer law suit.  Today the Times published four letters responding to the article, including mine. I want to comment on two of […]

A Reply to Alan Kaplinsky’s Comment on My Claim about the Industry’s Supposed Love of Arbitration

by Jeff Sovern In a recent American Banker essay, I argued that businesses praise arbitration not because they genuinely value it, but because it enables them to block class actions.  I said that for two reasons: first, that if businesses truly believe arbitration is superior to litigation, as they say they do, they should prefer […]

S.I Strong Chapter: Incentives for Large-Scale Arbitration

S.I. Strong of Missouri has written Incentives for Large-Scale Arbitration: How Policymakers Can Influence Party Behaviour.  Here's the abstract: At this point, the future of large-scale arbitration (i.e., class, mass and collective procedures) can best be described as mixed. On the one hand, class arbitration has been curtailed in the United States as a result […]

More From the Times on Arbitration: Efforts to Rein In Arbitration Come Under Well-Financed Attack

Here. Excerpts: [T]he U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful business lobby in the country, started a new effort to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by lobbying lawmakers to attach a rider to the federal budget bill that would force the regulator to conduct a new study before issuing any rule, according to people […]