Proposed Legislation Undermines Business to Business Arbitration

Last November, The New York Times ran three front-page articles and a follow-up editorial excoriating companies who force their customers and employees to waive their right to proceed in court and instead have their disputes decided in arbitration proceedings where the deck is stacked against them. The articles brought to light that in certain cases the arbitrators who issued final and binding deci-sions had financial ties to those businesses and, as such, were anything but neutral—something prohibited by the policies and rules of legitimate dispute resolution providers.