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Summary Judgment: A Tool in Franchise Arbitrations
Franchisors have come to rely on arbitration as an inexpensive and quick avenue to resolve disputes with franchisees. However, arbitrations have expanded in scope and complexity over the years such that many arbitrations now closely resemble a court or jury trial. In response, franchise counsel should incorporate language in the arbitration provision in the franchise agreement that gives the parties the express right to employ litigation tools typically used by plaintiffs and defendants to resolve issues before incurring the time and expense associated with full-blown trials. Those litigation tools include dispositive motions, such as a motion for summary judgment. Because very few franchise arbitration provisions deal with this subject, arbitrators today are often left to address this issue on their own, and some of them are unwilling to consider such dispositive motions, and instead require a full trial, including witness testimony, thereby imposing increased burdens and expenses on the parties.
As the record of arbitration decisions ' especially pre-hearing decisions on whether summary judgment motions should even be considered ' is extremely limited, it is difficult to accurately determine how many parties in an arbitration have been denied the opportunity to present a summary judgment motion. Most of the commercial arbitrations in the United States are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). The FAA neither expressly permits nor expressly precludes the use of summary judgment or dispositive motions in the arbitration process ' it simply does not address this issue. Similarly, most arbitration associations do not specifically address in their rules the use of summary judgment motions in an arbitration. An argument certainly can be made that the language of the commercial rules for the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) at least implies that the arbitrator has the flexibility or authority to hear and decide summary judgment motions in an arbitration. However, without express language permitting such motions, a party runs the risk of an arbitrator interpreting the rules differently.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.