The American Arbitration Association announced new commercial arbitration rules which will become effective for all cases filed after October 1, 2013. Significant rule changes include:
- all cases exceeding $75,000 must be mediated concurrently with the arbitration proceeding, subject to unilateral opt out rights (R-9)
- use of the preliminary hearing to structure the arbitration proceeding (R-21; P-1&2)
- requiring the tribunal to manage document exchange with a view to achieving an efficient and economical resolution of the dispute (R-22)
- granting extensive enforcement powers to the tribunal in conducting the arbitration and document production, including the right to draw adverse inferences from willful non-compliance with “any order issued by the arbitrator”; financial penalties; and the power to issue any enforcement order permitted by law (R-23)
- authorizing dispositive motions (R-33)
- authorizing emergency relief for all cases in which the arbitration agreement was entered into on or after October 1, 2013 (R-38)
- authorizing the tribunal to restrict a non-paying party from pursuing a claim (but not extending to defending against a claim) (R-57)
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authorizing the tribunal to issue sanctions against a party who fails to comply with its obligations under the Rules or the tribunal’s orders (R-58)