Arbitration FAQ

What is arbitration?

Why use arbitration over litigation?

What types of disputes can be arbitrated?

Who serves as an arbitrator to resolve a dispute?

Arbitration Resources

Definitions

Alternative dispute resolution - A forum or means for resolving disputes (as arbitration or private judging) that exists outside the state or federal judicial system

Arbitration - The process by which the parties to a dispute submit their differences to the judgment of an impartial person or group appointed by mutual consent or statutory provision.

Arbitration Administrator - Arbitrations are often administered and managed by an independent, and objective third party, known as an arbitration administrator.

Arbitration Agreement - A written contract in which two or more parties agree to use arbitration, instead of the courts, to decide certain disputes.

Arbitrator - A private, neutral person chosen to arbitrate a disagreement, as opposed to a court of law.

Claim - A demand for money or other relief.

Claimant - A person making a claim.

Counsel - An attorney who advises and represents a party in an arbitration.

Counterclaim - A claim against the claimant.

Cross-Claim - A claim by a respondent against a co-respondent previously named by the claimant.

Filing - Delivery to the Director of Arbitration of the statement of claim or other pleadings, to be kept on file as a matter of record and reference.

Injunction - An equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels ("enjoins" or "restrains") a party from continuing a particular activity.

Litigation - To contest in legal proceedings.

Panel - The arbitrator(s) who decide(s) a dispute.

Party - A person or broker/dealer making or responding to a claim in an arbitration proceeding.

Pleadings - Written statements delivered by parties to one another setting out the legal and factual basis of a claim or defence. Pleadings may include a statement of claim, defence and reply filed in an arbitration.

Respondent - The person against whom a claim is made.

Service - Delivery of the statement of claim or other pleadings to those parties named in the arbitration.

Subpoena - A command from a court to require the person named in the subpoena to appear at a stated time and place to provide testimony or evidence. There are two main types of subpoenas: "duces tecum" (requires the production of documents, papers, or other tangibles) and "ad testificandum" (requires person to testify in a particular court case).

Third-Party Claim - A claim by the respondent against a party not already named in the proceeding.

Unspecified Damages - A claim for an unknown or undisclosed amount of money or other relief.

Online Resources

International Commercial Arbitration

Articles

Out-of-state lawyers make their case - The Miami Herald