...The Legal System and ADR Analysis Debra Doe-Gonzalez LAW 531 October 6, 2014 David Weischadle, II The Legal System and ADR Analysis The two major court systems in the United States are the federal and state court systems. They are each set up review different types of lawsuits (Cheeseman, 2013). This memo will review the levels of the state court system as well as the various methods of alternative dispute resolution. The case of AMF Incorporated v. Brunswick Corp will be reviewed in the discussion of the state court systems. The companies signed an arbitration agreement but Brunswick advertised a new product which AMF disputed and requested arbitration. State Court Systems The majority of state courts include limited-jurisdiction trial courts, general-jurisdiction trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and a supreme court (Cheeseman, 2013). Limited-Jurisdiction Trial Courts State limited-jurisdiction trial courts or inferior courts are in use to hear specific types of litigation such as traffic, family law and misdemeanor criminal cases. The decision of these courts can be appealed to a general-jurisdiction court or an appellate court. In the case of AMF v. Brunswick this process did not occur. General-Jurisdiction Trial Courts General-jurisdiction trial courts hear cases beyond the jurisdiction of limited trial courts. Judgments from these courts can be appealed to an intermediate appellate court or their state's supreme court. In the case of AMF...
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...Legal System and ADR Analysis Business Law LAW 531 Robert Reimer February 3, 2014 TO: Robert Reimer FROM: DATE: February 3, 2014 SUBJECT: The Legal System and ADR Analysis The legal system it a vital part of protecting and defending corporations, as well as, handling business efficiently and effectively when problems arise. Sometimes every dispute can not be handled by simple discussion and have to be taken to a more formal setting in front of a judge. However, not all cases get resolved through the court system, which can lead to a non-preferred result. It is best to use other methods of resolution which is known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR). This can provide assistance for less formal cases that do not want to go through the whole grueling litigation process. A business is a major responsibility and in order for success there has to be organizational goals in place to ensure it is headed in the right direction. Most businesses are customer driven and their primary focuses are financial performance and customer satisfaction. When owning a business, there are several disagreements that can occur in regards to money or individual rights. I have been tasked with describing a state level business dispute that goes through a litigation process and uses an ADR instead of going to trial. Business State Level Dispute There are two best friends that decide to form a general partnership by co owning a flower shop. One friend works 20 hours a week while...
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...Legal System and ADR Analysis JP LAW/531 November 24, 2013 XXXX Gray TO: Judith Gray, Professor LAW/531 FROM: John R. Peterson, Manager Team A DATE: November 24, 2013 SUBJECT: The Legal System and ADR Analysis This research paper discusses the Internal Business Dispute over the Trademark Rights for the “The Cupcakery” company. Moreover, it will cover the other possible legal phases the case could take within the Texas State court system as well as pursue Alternative Dispute Resolutions possibly skipping the traditional court system altogether. The Cupcakery lawsuit arose between the two parties that stemmed from loans paid to Pamela Jenkins from her Uncle Rockey Perrit a Texas resident. According to “Las Vegas Trademark Attorney” (2011), “Perritt, with the full knowledge of Jenkins, decided to open up his own “The Cupcakery” stores – first in Frisco, Texas (owned by the Texas based, and co-Plaintiff , The Cupcakery, LLC), and then a second store in Dallas, Texas (owned by co-Plaintiff Buster Baking, LLC), and later a third store in The Woodlands, Texas (owned by co-Plaintiff The Woodlands Baking, LLC). Perritt’s Texas stores used the same name, recipes and other intellectual property used by Cupcakery NV” (Internal Business Dispute Over “The Cupcakery” Trademark Reignites). Armed with this background, let us first take a look at what legal phases this case could take within the Texas court system. Texas Legal Court System At the time this lawsuit...
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...The Legal System and ADR Analysis LAW 531 October 1, 2013 The Legal System and ADR Analysis There are various phases of the legal system that a business dispute must undergo before the dispute, or complaint, is resolved. These stages are commonly referred to as pretrial litigations, in which parties typically prefer to settle disputes within these pretrial stages to avoid costly legal fees. “The use of the court system to resolve business and other disputes can take years and cost thousands, or even millions, of dollars in legal fees and expenses” (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 52). Methods of nonjudicial dispute resolution, commonly referred to as alternative dispute resolution (ADR), are normally used to allow disputes to be resolved outside the court judicial system. The forms of ADR are negotiation, mediation, mini-trial, fact-finding, using a judicial referee, and arbitration, which is the most common method (Cheeseman, 2013). These forms of ADR can be applied to many different business disputes, in which some forms are more suitable to some cases than others. In regard to the case of City of Elsa v. Gonzalez, the legal process will be evaluated, the most appropriate ADR method to use will be recommended, and the differences cost benefits between traditional litigation and pursing ADR will be discussed. The Legal Process As stated above, there are various phases of the legal process that business disputes go through before a settlement has been reached. The first step of...
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...TO: Deborah Gronet FROM: Brian T. Anguish DATE: September 1st, 2014 SUBJECT: The Legal System and ADR Analysis on Texas Energy Giants In the early part of January 2014, Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas filed a lawsuit against Enterprise Products Partners of Houston and Enbridge Inc. of Calgary Alberta (Curriden, 2014). Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas claims that Enterprise Products Partners broke a prior arrangement to building a pipeline from Houston to Oklahoma. Enterprise Products Partners believes the lawsuit has no merit because there was no true actual partnership or joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners. Energy Transfer Partners disagrees and argues that both Enterprise and Enbridge worked together to cut Energy Transfer Partners out of the pipeline deal illegally. Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas is seeking over one billion dollars in actual and punitive damages (Curriden, 2014). Enterprise Products Partners feels the lawsuit should be thrown out since there was no true agreement in their eyes with Energy Transfer Partners. This case differs than most business disputes since it is making it into a court room. It seems Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas is looking to bring into light how Enterprise Products Partners of Houston does business. Energy Transfer Partners feels they have a strong enough case to make it into the state court system to solve and collect from their broken partnership with Enterprise Products Partners. Energy...
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...The Legal System and ADR Analysis LAW/531 March 03, 2014 Traditional litigation and ADR are two different ways to resolve a legal dispute. The use of traditional litigation takes you through a costly and lengthy trial before a judge and sometimes a jury. Whereas, ADR, also known as alternative dispute resolution, (Royal & Miles LLP, 2012) is a method of resolving legal dispute without going to trial. In the case of Rainy vs. Domino’s pizza, LLC traditional litigation was used but using ADR in the case may have been the better way to go. In the state court system this case would begin by the plaintiff, Paul Rainy filing a complaint. Then Domino’s pizza, LLC has to file an answer to the plaintiff’s case, which in this case they deny being vicariously liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries. The discovery process is the next step to state court system. At this point both parties will engage in activities to discover the facts of the case from all parties’ involved as well as witnesses (Cheeseman, 2013, p.45). A deposition is one of many examples of discovery that can be used to provide detail in a legal dispute. In terms of a deposition a witness or party gives testimony pretrial, under oath, to be used as evidence during the actual trial. In the state court system the last step used before actually going to trial is a pretrial hearing or settlement conference (Cheeseman, 2013, p.47). In this pretrial hearing both parties try to facilitate a settlement before the trial to prevent...
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...The Legal System and ADR Analysis Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx LAW/531 January 1, 2015 D The Legal System and ADR Analysis This report is prepared for John Smith the president of American Federal Mortgage, Ltd. It summarizes a lawsuit filed against American Federal Mortgage, Ltd. by Federal Resources, LLC. The two firms have been engaged in an ongoing business relationship for seven years. This report reviews: 1. How this case would be processed throughout the various legal phases of the Nevada court system. 2. How this case could be resolved using an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 3. A comparison of costs and benefits between the court system and using ADR. Parties American Federal Mortgage, LTD (AFM) a Nevada corporation. AFM is the defendant in this lawsuit. Federal Resources, LLC (FR) a Nevada Limited Liability Company. FR is the plaintiff in the lawsuit. History AFM has had an ongoing relationship with FR for seven years. The relationship is twofold: 1. FR is the overnight Repo lender for AFM. FR loans AFM up to a maximum of 90% of AFM’s daily note receivables that have not been pledged with AFM’s line-bank. The average amount of these daily transactions is between $800 thousand and $1 million. This Repo relationship is governed by a master-contract that was drafted by FR. 2. FR is the beneficiary of three long-term promissory notes from AFM. These notes had an original face value of $600 thousand and have a current principal balance of approximately...
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...The Legal System and ADR Analysis One aspect our company utilizes to expand is purchasing smaller lucrative expanding companies. As we proceed with these procurement actions we must ensure we act in good faith, if not we may find ourselves in a similar situation as USA Truck and Knight Transportation are currently besieged in. USA Truck Inc. of Van Buren, Arkansas filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Knight Transportation Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona, because Knight Transportation is attempting to buy out USA Truck. The lawsuit, filed in Crawford County Circuit Court, alleged Knight unacceptably utilized USA Truck's proprietary company information to facilitate a hostile procurement of USA Truck for an unreasonable amount, which does not reflect the Company's real value. The lawsuit requests Knight to divest the USA Truck shares they currently have, which USA Truck accuses Knight obtained by violating the confidentiality agreement the two companies agreed to. Knight increased its ownership in USA Truck from 8% to 12% after the company publically announced it was trying to take it over. USA Truck's Board of Directors is very disenchanted with the way Knight Transportation acted when they promised they would not do what they are being accused of doing, which was utilize confidential information expressed to them via friendly private discussions regarding an agreed upon transaction between the companies. When USA Truck’s Board of Directors refused to agree to the terms Knight...
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...The Legal System and ADR Analysis My office is trying to reach an agreement on the case of Davis vs. Teames. In the case both parties where involved in a car accident and received both personal, physical, and property damages. Both parties are denying fault and the police report puts no one at fault. Ms. Davis was traveling west on Cherry Lane on a green light when Mr. Teames hits her at full- speed in the intersection. Witnesses said that Mr. Teames ran the red light. Mr. Teames said that his light was green. Ms, Davis received both bodily damages to her vehicle and severe personal injury. Her vehicle ended up being counted as total loss. Mr. Teames received minor bodily damages to his car and minor persona injuries. Due to the high cost of taking the case to court, both parties have agreed to try to reach an agreement through alternative dispute resolution (ADR). They are less formal, less expensive, and less time consuming than a trial. Besides being less formal and less expensive, some other advantages of ADR over going to trial include quicker resolutions, less intimidating, both sides are heard by an arbitrator or a mediator and at the end both parties are allowed to give an opinion. After binding, ADR, the opinion can usually be filed with a court and turned into a judgment. Trials by comparison are more formal and slower processes. They are usually more expensive due to long trials and high attorney fees. Trials are heard before a judge and at the end...
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...TO: Deborah Gronet FROM: Brian T. Anguish DATE: September 1st, 2014 SUBJECT: The Legal System and ADR Analysis on Texas Energy Giants In the early part of January 2014, Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas filed a lawsuit against Enterprise Products Partners of Houston and Enbridge Inc. of Calgary Alberta (Curriden, 2014). Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas claims that Enterprise Products Partners broke a prior arrangement to building a pipeline from Houston to Oklahoma. Enterprise Products Partners believes the lawsuit has no merit because there was no true actual partnership or joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners. Energy Transfer Partners disagrees and argues that both Enterprise and Enbridge worked together to cut Energy Transfer Partners out of the pipeline deal illegally. Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas is seeking over one billion dollars in actual and punitive damages (Curriden, 2014). Enterprise Products Partners feels the lawsuit should be thrown out since there was no true agreement in their eyes with Energy Transfer Partners. This case differs than most business disputes since it is making it into a court room. It seems Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas is looking to bring into light how Enterprise Products Partners of Houston does business. Energy Transfer Partners feels they have a strong enough case to make it into the state court system to solve and collect from their broken partnership with Enterprise Products Partners. Energy...
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...Legal System and ADR Analysis Law/531 Legal System and ADR Analysis Before we proceed with deciding the direction we should take going forward with this case, we will need to understand the cost and benefits of going through traditional litigation or through an alternative route. The magnitude of the case is not severe enough that we will need to take to the judicial court system but rather by utilizing an alternative dispute resolution. The higher we decide to take this up to the court, the more costly this will be on our company. To keep it minimal and resolve the dispute in a shorter period, utilizing one of the six different alternative dispute options would be the best route to take. Traditional vs. ADR In the traditional litigation process, there are many hurdles to overcome. First by filing the complaint and waiting to get an answer back from the accused party, because there may be some pushback, the defendant may decide to file a cross-complaint. Deciding to move forward with the traditional process is not only timely but costly. There are many steps to filing a complaint, that it will be easier and quicker to take this out of court. We also need to consider the probability of winning or losing the case, how much time and cost we’ll be investing and consider the unpredictability of the legal system. Not to mention, should we win in court, the defendant will still have the right to pursue...
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...Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) (also known as external dispute resolution in some countries, such as Australia[1]) includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that act as a means for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigation. It is a collective term for the ways that parties can settle disputes, with (or without) the help of a third party. Despite historic resistance to ADR by many popular parties and their advocates, ADR has gained widespread acceptance among both the general public and the legal profession in recent years. In fact, some courts now require some parties to resort to ADR of some type, usually mediation, before permitting the parties' cases to be tried (indeed the European Mediation Directive (2008) expressly contemplates so-called "compulsory" mediation; attendance that is, not settlement at mediation). The rising popularity of ADR can be explained by the increasing caseload of traditional courts, the perception that ADR imposes fewer costs than litigation, a preference for confidentiality, and the desire of some parties to have greater control over the selection of the individual or individuals who will decide their dispute.[2] Some of the senior judiciary in certain jurisdictions (of which England and Wales is one) are strongly in favour of the use of mediation to settle disputes.[3] Please read: a personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales Read now Alternative dispute resolution From Wikipedia, the free...
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...course prepares students to evaluate the legal risks associated with business activity. Students create proposals to manage an organization's legal exposure. Other topics include the legal system, alternative dispute resolution, enterprise liability, product liability, international law, business risks, intellectual property, legal forms of business, and governance. Course Dates Oct 14, 2014 - Nov 24, 2014 Faculty Information Name : Email Address : Alternate Email Address Phone Number : ADRIENNE YEUNG (PRIMARY) Not Available Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents (both located on your student website): • Academic Policies University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Get Ready for Class • Familiarize yourself with the textbook used in this course. Course Materials All electronic materials are available on your student website. Week1 Legal Forms of Business and Alternative Dispute Resolution Tasks • Review the Week 1 Study Guide. • Review the Knowledge Check Faculty and Student Guide. Oct, 14 - Oct, 20 Objectives/Competencies 1.1 Differentiate among the legal forms of business. 1.2 Differentiate...
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...Introduction: Courts today are backlogged by months and sometimes even years, as a result, it is now commonplace to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve these disputes. More agreements often contain mandatory arbitration provisions that are legally binding and enforceable. In addition, almost every court or administrative agency empowered to hear cases now requires mediation as part of the formal adjudication process (Spangler, 2003). Abstract: Arbitration plays a crucial role in commercial procurement. Ideally, solid contractual agreements would alleviate disputes between parties. In most cases, disputes result from the terms of the contract rather than the actual contract itself. Arbitration offers dispute resolution that eliminates the need for costly litigation and time-consuming disputes in the courtroom. This paper considers the role of arbitration in contracted procurement. Additionally, it considers alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a whole as arbitration is a subset of ADR and will discuss their relative advantages and disadvantages in comparison with traditional litigation. The aged concept of arbitration has recently begun to reach tremendous levels of popularity in the acquisition realm. Dictionary.com defines arbitration as, “the hearing and determining of a dispute or the settling of differences between parties by a person or persons chosen or agreed to by them”. Solving disputes through arbitration...
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...ABSTRACT The main objective of this research is Evolution of the process of ADR in Bangladesh: Whether arbitration and mediation is appropriate procedure to solve dispute”. The aim of this research is to analyses the cachet and efficaciousness of the instrument of ADR in Bangladesh. At the same time an attempt is made to evaluate the sociological aspect of the ADR in Bangladesh. Hence, this writes up especially for those who have no legal background but want to have an idea about it is interesting to note that the concept of ADR is developing in Bangladesh as a performance of public duty by civil society groups advocating in support of progressive ideologies. I have collected all the materials from different books, scholars’ articles and offices from Law organization. I have collected the information about International aspect of ADR from different site of internet. At first I have collected different books relating to ADR. For the laws regarding ADR of Bangladesh and international, I have followed different Acts and Convention. INTRODUCTION The attempt to settle a legal dispute through active participation of a third party (mediator) who works to find points of agreement and make those in conflict agree on a fair result. Mediation differs from arbitration in which the third party (arbitrator) acts much like a judge but in an out-of-court less formal setting but does not actively participate in the discussion. Mediation has become very common in trying to resolve domestic...
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