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The American Arbitration Association's revised Commercial Arbitration Rules, which will take effect Jan. 1, are designed to enhance the arbitrator's authority to actively manage the proceedings. The amendments also provide-for the first time in any arbitration rules-for an optional mechanism when parties need emergency measures of protection before a tribunal has been selected.
The amendments were made after an intensive review of the Association's administration of commercial cases. The AAA's Case Administration Advisory Committee made a host of recommended administration improvements, including certain changes to the Commercial Arbitration Rules. William K. Slate II, AAA president and CEO, appointed a Rules Revision Committee under the guidance of the AAA's general counsel, Michael F. Hoellering.
"The Commercial Arbitration Rules are applied to a wide variety of commercial disputes involving many different industries and spanning the gamut in size from very modest to very substantial," according to the Rules Revision Committee in a commentary on the amended rules. "Mindful that the Commercial Rules have stood the test of time and that they serve as a model for many of the AAA's specialized rules, the Committee has recommended only those changes necessary to improve the process in light of modern arbitration practice."
Here are the highlights of the revised Commercial Arbitration Rules:
Applicability of Rules-Section R1. Revised language specifies that the Commercial Rules will apply to a domestic commercial dispute where parties have not specified particular AAA rules. In the past, the Commercial Rules applied either when they were specifically chosen or whenever the parties have provided for arbitration by the AAA without naming specific rules.
Jurisdiction of the ArbitratorSection R-8. The U.S. Supreme Court held in First Options v. Kaplan that any dispute as to the arbitrability of a dispute shall be decided by the arbitrators if the parties have explicitly so agreed in their contract. This section convenient location, that the consumer should be given "clear and adequate notice of the arbitration provision and its consequences, including a statement of its mandatory or optional character,"and that the "arbitrator should be empowered to grant whatever relief would be available in court under law or in equity."
The relevance of such a Protocol was underscored recently by a New York State court ruling in a consumer case involving...