ANSWERS (GRADED A+)
Alternative Dispute Resolution - ANSWER-The resolution of legal disputes through
methods other than litigation, such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, summary jury
trials, minitrials, neutral case evaluations, and private trials.
Organizations often use ADR to resolve disputes involving contracts, insurance, labor,
the environment, securities, technology, and international trade.
Why might a business prefer to resolve a dispute through Alternative Dispute Resolution
(ADR) rather than litigation? - ANSWER-First, ADR methods are generally faster and
cheaper than litigation. Accordingly, the National Arbitration Forum, the average time
from filing a complaint to receiving judgment through litigation is 25 months.
Because ADR is faster, it is usually cheaper.
Secondly, a business may wish to avoid the uncertainty associated with a jury decision.
Third, a business may wish to avoid setting a precedent through a court decision. Many
business prefer ADR because of its confidential nature.
Fourth, because many forms of ADR are less adversarial than litigation, the parties are
able to preserve a business relationship.
Negotiation - ANSWER-A bargaining process in which disputing parties interact
informally, either with or without lawyers, to attempt to resolve their dispute.
A neutral third party, such as a judge or jury, is not involved.
Adversarial negotiation - ANSWER-A party can enter negotiations with one of two
approaches: adversarial or problem solving.
Each party seeks to maximize its own gain
Problem-solving negotiation - ANSWER-The parties seek joint gain.
To reach a successful settlement, each part must give up something in exchange for
getting something from the other side.
Mediation - ANSWER-An extension of negotiation is mediation.
, The disputing parties select a neutral party to help facilitate communication and suggest
ways for the parties to solve their dispute.
Advantages of mediation: - ANSWER--Helps disputing parties preserve their
relationships
-Potential for creative solutions
-Parties to mediation have a high level of
autonomy
-Less costly, less time-consuming, less
complicated
Disadvantages of mediation: - ANSWER--informal process improperly creates an image
of
equality between the parties.
-We improperly assume that the resulting
agreement between the parties is also equal.
-Some people may abuse the mediation process in
an attempt to simply draw out the dispute.
Arbitration - ANSWER-One of the most frequently used method of dispute resolution.
It's the resolution of a dispute by a neutral third party outside the judicial setting.
It is often a voluntary process in that parties typically have a contractual agreement to
arbitrate any disputes.
Submission Agreement - ANSWER-If a contract does not contain a binding arbitration
clause, parties may secure arbitration by enter into a SA.
The submission agreement typically states the following: the nature of the dispute, how
the arbitrator will be selected, the place of the arbitration, and limitations on the
arbitrator's authority to remedy the dispute.
Med-Arb - ANSWER-Is a dispute resolution process in which the parties agree to start
out in mediation and, if the mediation is unsuccessful on one or more points, also agree
to move on to arbitration.
Summary Jury Trial - ANSWER-Is an abbreviated trial that leads to a nonbinding jury
verdict.
Two advantages are inherent in this method of dispute resolution.
First, it is quick; a summary jury trial lasts only a day.
Second, because the jury offers a verdict, both parties get a chance to see how their
case would fare before a jury of their peers.