Mass Arbitration Year in Review and Outlook for 2026: Key Decisions, New Procedural Rules, Bellwether Cases

This CLE webinar will review significant trial and appellate court decisions in 2025 concerning key aspects of mass arbitration practice and offer a preview of what to expect in 2026. The speakers will discuss new mass arbitration rules issued by the American Arbitration Association and JAMS and what companies need to pay the most attention to when drafting class waivers and mandatory arbitration provisions.

Mass arbitrations—where plaintiffs' firms bring dozens, hundreds, or thousands of identical claims against a business—create settlement leverage through unavoidable arbitration fees that must be paid by the defendants. Litigation funding often provides plaintiffs additional margin. 

2025 saw notable rulings at the appellate and trial court levels addressing pivotal aspects of mass arbitration, including several that offer defendants a working playbook for addressing the threat of crippling arbitration fees that prevent consideration of the merits. Moreover, both the American Arbitration Association and JAMS have issued mass arbitration procedural rules to address the fee issue and significantly lower the amount of fees to be paid. Defendants must be vigilant about the wording of their arbitration mandates and class waivers.

The bellwether trial has also emerged as a key tool. A subset of claimants is selected to proceed to the merits, and the results of these bellwether proceedings are then used to inform negotiations with all claimants. Nonetheless, the procedure raises several serious questions and in certain cases has been found unconscionable. 

Listen as our panel of defense class action counsel offers insight into which strategies and practices are best for preventing mass arbitrations and effectively defending against them.