Mass Arbitration Logistics: New JAMS, AAA Rules, Fees; Process Arbitrators; Batching; Streamlining Tactics

This CLE webinar will offer practical guidance to counsel concerning the logistics of actually proceeding through a mass arbitration, not just how to mitigate the possibility, although mitigations affect strategy and options. The panel will discuss the mass arbitration rules for JAMS and the American Arbitration Association (AAA), who decides procedural issues, how evidence is obtained and presented, batching and its limits, preclusion, selecting arbitrators, and more.

Although class action waivers and arbitration clauses are still considered the best defenses against class actions, they have led to a rise in mass arbitrations, which have utterly disrupted the existing dispute resolution framework. So much so that both JAMS and AAA now have rules and updated fee schedules for mass arbitrations.

Although these rules have mandatory mediation requirements to encourage early resolution, mediation can fail. When mediation fails, counsel need to know how to get all the cases through the arbitration process in a timely manner given that each case must be decided individually.

Arbitrators and parties alike may want to consider agreeing to certain streamlining processes, such as having some witnesses testify only once, examining key documents only once, or deciding certain legal issues at the beginning. Many of the procedural practices used in class actions and MDL litigation may prove useful in mass arbitration.

Listen as our renowned and experienced panel of class action lawyers discusses the logistics of actually prosecuting and resolving mass arbitrations.