I am an Arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. I am also an attorney who has practiced in intellectual property and business litigation and arbitration [including disputes involving members of the PCB industry] before the American Arbitration Association and the ICC Court of Arbitration for the past 25 years. To answer your questions: 1. The AAA charges a nominal fee at the beginning of the arbitration to cover the administrative charges. This fee is paid by the party that initiates the arbitration. If the other side has a counterclaim, than they must pay a fee on the same basis. The American Arbitration Association maintains a web site which contains their fee schedule and a lot of useful information: http://www.adr.org 2. Generally, half of the anticipated costs of the AAA and the arbitrator are paid by each side before the arbitration hearing begins. Generally, the arbitrator will order the losing party to pay for the costs of arbitration. [This will benefit the prevailing party only if the losing party pays voluntarily or after a judgment is entered on the award.] This should generally be made an express provision in the arbitration agreement. However, the general rule is that each side must pay its legal fees and costs in the arbitration, and you should consider adding a provision to your contract that the prevailing party is awarded its costs and attorney's fees. 3. You do not have to pay the AAA to include an arbitration provision in a contract. May I suggest that when drafting an arbitration provision, you consider language about (a) where the arbitration takes place [you probably do business with companies far distant from where you are located, and should provide for arbitration near where you are located - these provisions setting the location of the arbitration are generally upheld], (b) whether the prevailing party in any arbitration pays for all costs, including the costs and fees of the AAA and the arbitrator, and attorney's fees. In some cases, it makes sense to stipulate whether the dispute will be decided by a single arbitrator or a panel of three arbitrators. Having three arbitrators is more expensive and time consuming, but may protect against the possible bias of a sniggle arbitrator. The AAA tends to appoint 3 arbitrators in large cases, so if you want to avoid against that expense, you should stipulate to a single arbitrator selected by the AAA. The general procedure for the selection of an arbitrator is that the AAA will send the parties a list of candidates with their resumes, and each side ranks them in the order they prefer, and the AAA will use those rankings to select try to select someone that both sides prefer. 4. In my experience, arbitration frequently offers a faster and cheaper alternative to litigation. However, there are some potential disadvantages. For example, it may sometimes be in your interest to conduct pretrial discovery of your opponent and third parties such as through compelling documents and depositions. This is generally unavailable or limited in arbitration, unless the parties agree. Also, you should understand that while there are generally opportunities to appeal an adverse ruling in a court, an arbitration award is extremely difficult to overturn, even if it is highly erroneous, and some arbitrators may have undisclosed biases that favor one side over the other. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. William E. Johnson Telephone: (310) 557-0020 Fax: (310) 557-0607 [log in to unmask] Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 10:42:15 -0400 From: "Kasprzak, Bill (esd) USX" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Looking for Arbitrator David: Just curious, have you ever had to call in the AAA? (American Arbitration Association, not the Automobile Assoc. of America) How do they get paid and who pays? Do you have to pay the AAA to use this clause? I never knew they existed. I thought that the only recourse was through lawyers and the legal system. Bill Kasprzak Moog Inc. P.S. Any comments on the Debate last night? A bit on the feisty side to say the least. However, I did like what _____ had to say. (I don't wanna start anything) > -----Original Message----- > From: David Fish [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 11:55 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [TN] Looking for Arbitrator > > We put the following in our purchase order boiler plate: > > (8) Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this contract, > or the breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with > the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, > and judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered > in any court having jurisdiction thereof. > > > Weiner Mickey wrote: > > > > Does IPC have a body which could help > to resolve issues between manufacturers and their customers. > > > Thanks > Mickey > Michael Weiner > Tel (972-3) 9262937 > Fax (972-3) 9261803 > <mailto:mickey.weiner>@ecitele.com > ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. 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