JAMS Release Mass Arbitration Procedures Following AAA's Lead

In recent years, plaintiff-side attorneys have increasingly relied on a strategy of "mass arbitration" to force companies into in terrorem settlements, whereby large numbers of claims are settled quickly before the underlying merits of those claims can be tested. One primary driver of this strategy is the significant administrative-fee burden that is incurred for defendants in most arbitral fora when thousands of purportedly inpidual claims are filed simultaneously. For most companies, it is simply cheaper to settle — even on plaintiffs' terms — than mount any form of defense, regardless of whether the claims are meritless. As a consequence, mass arbitration tends to undermine the integrity of the arbitral process; no mechanism exists for parties to fairly adjudicate procedural issues or weed out frivolous claims without first incurring prohibitive fees. In response to this emerging trend and significant potential for abuse, the American Arbitration Association