Until the recent past, American law was hostile to arbitration, treating it as a creature outside the law. Under the leadership of the United States Supreme Court, arbitration has become a central feature of our system for the binding resolution of disputes. The uses of arbitration have expanded from its roots in the commercial and labor arenas to encompass all manner of disputes, including statutory claims. Contracts throughout our economy call for the arbitration of disputes, usually in the standardized, pre-printed provisions. Examples of firms that use mandatory arbitration agreements include securities brokers, banking organizations, employers, and sellers of computers. Providers of medical services, and even attorneys, frequently mandate arbitration of disputes.
The materials in Arbitration: Cases and Materials have two central objectives: to provide an introduction to the law of arbitration, and to show how arbitration works in a variety of contexts. Arbitration is strongly favored by the courts, and judicial review of arbitration awards is much more limited than review of trial court decisions. It is important for students to understand the arbitration process because it virtually always results in a final and binding award.
This Arbitration: Cases and Materials focuses primarily on contract-based, binding commercial arbitration. “Commercial” includes employment disputes and arbitration between businesses and their customers. Attention is also given to non-binding arbitration—grievance arbitration pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. Finally, a chapter is devoted to arbitration at the behest of government, including court-annexed arbitration, that is not based on party assent.
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