The excitement and joy of building a new home can quickly be overshadowed by a construction lien, or as it is more commonly known, a mechanic’s lien. Construction liens exist because it guarantees that a contractor will be paid for the work and materials that they put into a home or building. It allows a …
Most people have watched a witness stand, raise their right hand, and state the oath in the courtroom before giving their testimony, either in person or by watching a show about the court. A lot of people could probably recite the oath from memory as well. Yet many people may not understand the purpose of …
Benefitting from Business Trusts When considering a trust for a business, an entrepreneur may have questions such as who are the sole beneficiaries and the trustees of a business trust. Trusts come with a whole host of new languages and considerations that need to be made. Placing a business in a trust can be beneficial …
A common question in insurance issues concerns what an insurance dispute is and if it fits their situation. Dealing with insurance can often be a pain, and when an insurance claim goes wrong, people may wonder how to recover from the denial or other agreement that does not match what the policyholder hoped for. Insurance …
As practitioners of alternative dispute resolution, we compare our methods to litigation, often without pausing to describe what it means to litigate a dispute. Litigation is often the alternative to dispute resolution because it is the default forum to resolve a dispute in the United States and many places around the world. It is what …
When bringing a lawsuit, the parties may need the term locus standi clarified. The term is thrown around in a legal context often, but the definition is rarely discussed outside of first-year law school classes except by the occasional legal opinion that deals with the concept. Yet having locus standi is the foundation of bringing …
Well, you’re fed up with waiting. You’re finally ready to file that breach of contract suit against what used to be your best customer. They have been stringing you along, but you have had it. Or maybe you just got a nasty letter in the mail telling you the people who bought your house weren’t …
It’s been said that “not to decide is to decide.” But unless there is only one possible result of inaction, not making a decision surrenders to chaos. Indecision perpetrates the status quo only where a situation is static, which is not often the case. Where conflict is ongoing, it will continue unless parties become exhausted, …
The New York Arbitration Convention is the leading piece of international law governing the enforcement of arbitral awards internationally. Every arbitration award that has been granted from one foreign state to another has likely interacted with the New York Convention in some way. Formally called the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral …
One of the most bitterly contested issues in arbitration law over the last twenty years is the legality of class action arbitration and waivers thereof. Professor Elizabeth Tippett calls it the $100 million dollar question for Uber, referring to that company’s high-stakes employee misclassification litigation under wage and hour laws. Of course, Uber isn’t the …