Arbitration

By: Jeffrey M. Haber New York “favors and encourages arbitration as a means of conserving the time and resources of the courts and the contracting parties”. 1 Under the Federal Arbitration Act, “‘questions of arbitrability must be addressed with a healthy regard for the federal policy ... any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration.’” 2 Thus, “where the contract contains an arbitration clause, there is a presumption of a

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber Arbitration is an alternative form of dispute resolution where the parties voluntarily agree that a neutral, private person will resolve any legal disputes between them, instead of a judge or jury in a court of law. 1 In business and commercial transactions, arbitration is the preferred means of resolving disputes. It is encouraged and recognized as the public policy of the State of New York. 2 For this reason, “New York courts interfere as little as p

By: Jeffrey M. Haber It is well-settled that the arbitration provisions of the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR § 7501 et seq .) evidence a legislative intent to encourage arbitration. 1 In fact, arbitration is a preferred means for the settlement of disputes between parties. 2 In light of the foregoing, (1) when parties to a contract have clearly and unambiguously agreed to arbitrate their disputes, the courts will enforce that agreement, as they would any other agreement

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Litigation can be lengthy, costly and potentially damaging to the financial viability of a business and the financial security of an individual. Often, the parties can resolve their disputes without going to court by using alternative methods such as arbitration and mediation.  Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) is an area of law devoted to settling disputes without using the court system. ADR is often a shorter and less costly process by which busine

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Mandatory arbitration has been around for a long time. It is a mechanism used by, among others, businesses to require consumers to arbitrate their disputes rather than litigate their claims in a court of law. Although in theory a consumer can opt-out of the arbitration requirement, in reality to do so would mean that he or she would not obtain the product or service. For example, a person cannot buy something online, subscribe to a service, or join a club

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Generally, whether a claim is subject to arbitration is a decision for the court, not the arbitrator. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that “parties can agree to arbitrate ‘gateway’ questions of ‘arbitrability.’” 1 As discussed below, such “delegation clauses” are enforceable where “there is ‘clea and unmistakabl ’ evidence” that the parties intended to arbitrate arbitrability issues. 2 “When deciding whether the parties agreed to arbitrate a c

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism that enables parties to resolve disputes without going to court. Arbitration is similar to a trial without the formalities. It is an adversarial proceeding where the parties can call witnesses and present evidence to a neutral arbitrator or panel of arbitrators. The rules of discovery and evidence are relaxed to make it a shorter and more cost-efficient process. Often, the parties select the arbit

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber As readers know from past articles, CPLR § 7511 (b) sets forth the statutory grounds for vacating an arbitration award. Under that section, a court may vacate an award if the rights of the movant were prejudiced by: (1) corruption, fraud or misconduct in procuring the award; (2) partiality of the arbitrator; (3) the arbitrator exceeding or imperfectly executing his/her power; or (4) the arbitrator failing to follow the procedure of Article 75.  With resp

By:   Jeffrey M. Haber The “policy of to encourage arbitration.” 1 For this reason, “ ny doubts as to whether an issue is arbitrable will be resolved in favor of arbitration.” 2 This is especially so where the agreement to arbitrate incorporates rules that explicitly authorize the arbitrator to resolve all disputes, including those concerning “the formation, existence, validity, interpretation or scope of the agreement under which Arbitration is sought.” 3 In Schindler v.

By: Jeffrey M. Haber What is Expungement and When is It Granted? Expungement is the process by which a brokerage firm or registered representative seeks to remove an adverse disclosure event from the Central Registration Depository (CRD®) system. The CRD is the securities industry’s online registration and licensing database. Information in the CRD is obtained through forms that brokerage firms, associated persons and regulators complete as part of the securities industry reg

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Arbitration is an alternative form of dispute resolution where the parties voluntarily agree that a neutral, private person will resolve any legal disputes between them, instead of a judge or jury in a court of law. 1 It is encouraged and recognized as the public policy of the State of New York. 2 Consequently, courts will interfere as little as possible with the agreement of consenting parties to submit their disputes to arbitration. 3 Generally, a cou

By   Jeffrey M. Haber Generally, whether a claim is subject to arbitration is a decision for the court, not the arbitrator. 1 Notwithstanding, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that “parties can agree to arbitrate ‘gateway’ questions of ‘arbitrability.’” 2 Such “delegation clauses” are enforceable where “there is ‘clea and unmistakabl ’ evidence” that the parties intended to arbitrate arbitrability issues. 3 “When deciding whether the parties agreed to arbitrate a certain m

Generally, matters that are not covered by an agreement to arbitrate do not have to be arbitrated. After all, arbitration is a creature of contract. And, because an agreement to arbitrate is governed by the rules of contract interpretation, the courts must “give effect to the contractual rights and expectations of the parties.” Volt Info. Scis., Inc. v. Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior Univ. , 489 U.S. 468, 479 (1989). In other words, “as with any other contract, t

We have noted previously that the “policy of to encourage arbitration.” See Smith Barney Shearson Inc. v. Sacharow , 91 N.Y.2d 39 (1997). For this reason, “ ny doubts as to whether an issue is arbitrable will be resolved in favor of arbitration.” State of New York v. Philip Morris Inc. , 30 A.D.3d 26, 31 (1st Dept. 2006), aff’d , 8 N.Y.3d 574 (2007)). This is especially so where the agreement to arbitrate incorporates rules that explicitly authorize the arbitrator to resolve

When parties to a contract delegate the question of arbitrability to an arbitrator, the courts will enforce the agreement as written. They may not, without more, decide the arbitrability issue. This “is true even if the court thinks that the argument that the arbitration agreement applies to a particular dispute is wholly groundless.” Henry Schein, Inc. v Archer & White Sales, Inc. , _____ U.S. at _____, 139 S.Ct. 524, 529 (2019). Thus, “if a valid agreement exists, and if th

Arbitration is a preferred means of dispute resolution. In fact, arbitration is the policy under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and the Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”). For this reason, (1) when parties to a contract have clearly and unambiguously agreed to arbitrate their disputes, the courts will enforce that agreement, as they would any other agreement, to give effect to the parties’ intention; (2) the courts will not substitute their judgment for that of the ar

We have noted in prior posts that vacating an arbitration award is very difficult. See , e.g. , here and here . There are a number of bases upon which a movant can seek to vacate an arbitral award. See , e.g. , CPLR § 7511(b). Two such bases are the arbitrator exceeded his/her authority and the arbitrator manifestly disregarded the law. Under CPLR § 7511 (b) (1) (iii) – vacatur on the basis that the arbitrator exceeded his/her power or so imperfectly executed it – a court wi

Arbitration is an alternative form of dispute resolution where the parties voluntarily agree that a neutral, private person will resolve any legal disputes between them, instead of a judge or jury in a court of law. Rent-A-Ctr., W, Inc. v. Jackson , 561 U.S. 63, 67 (2010) (noting that “arbitration is a matter of contract”); Matter of Long Is. Power Auth. Hurricane Sandy Litig. , 165 A.D.3d 1138, 1141 (2d Dept. 2018). In business and commercial transactions, arbitration is the

Alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) is the name given for the procedures by which parties can settle their disputes without litigation, such as arbitration, mediation, or negotiation. ADR procedures are generally, though not always, less costly and more expeditious. Here.=">Here</a>."> Although arbitration has increased in popularity over the years and is part of most business and commercial contracts and employment agreements, there remains resistance to engaging in ADR p

In the past, we have written about many aspects of arbitration. Our articles have covered issues such as the duty to arbitrate, as well as the bases upon which to confirm or vacate an arbitral award. Rarely, if ever, have we examined a motion to stay a court proceeding pending the outcome of an arbitration. Today, in discussing CMBSW Grp., LLC v. Inverness Counsel, LLC, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 32525(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County July 31, 2020) (here), we do so. Typically, a party will