Originally from:
The College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration - 2nd Edition - Hardcover
The College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration - 2nd Edition - Electronic
CHAPTER 5
CLASS ARBITRATION
Arbitrators who serve in class arbitrations should accomplish
the unique procedural and substantive objectives of class
actions while providing the efficiencies expected of
arbitration proceedings.
I. ACCEPTING AN APPOINTMENT TO
SERVE AS AN ARBITRATOR IN A CLASS
ARBITRATION
Arbitrators should not accept an appointment to serve in
class proceedings unless they believe they are sufficiently
qualified to manage all procedural steps through the
issuance of a final award.
Class arbitration is a new and rapidly evolving procedure. By the time
this edition of the Guide goes to print, new court decisions and/or new
institutional rules may affect the general considerations discussed below.
Arbitrators serving in a class arbitration must be not only familiar with the
evolving case law but also alert to changes in institutional rules that might
govern or provide guidance on how the arbitration should be conducted.
Two major arbitral institutions—the AAA and JAMS—have established
procedures that apply in class arbitrations conducted under their rules. See
JAMS Class Action Procedures (JAMS Class Arbitration Rules); AAA
Supplementary Rules for Class Arbitrations (AAA Class Arbitration Rules).
Given the relative absence of guidance concerning how class arbitrations
should be conducted, arbitrators serving in class arbitrations should be
conversant with these procedures even if their arbitration is ad hoc or
administered by other arbitral institutions. Indeed, although the AAA Class
Arbitration Rules were not drafted in a manner contemplated to be used in
ad hoc proceedings, they apparently have been adopted for use in at least
some ad hoc arbitrations. See, e.g., Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp., 548
