4 Apr, 2023

Selecting the Right Arbitrator for Your Case

2023-06-28T11:33:22-05:00April 4th, 2023|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Nebraska Construction Law|

Maybe you have negotiated with your counterpart to include an arbitration provision in your construction contract or picked up a form contract that selects arbitration as the method of dispute resolution. Regardless of the circumstances, when the time and need for arbitration comes, the big question remains, who will be the arbitrator(s) tasked with the fate of my case, my client, my company or my project?When it comes down to [...]

27 Apr, 2022

Beware of Waiving Your Arbitration Rights Through Your Conduct

2022-04-16T08:26:54-05:00April 27th, 2022|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor|

Contractors are no strangers to arbitration or mediation clauses in construction contracts.  These provisions clearly identify the process for dispute resolution at the outset of a project rather than having to deal with disputes over how to resolve disputes.  However, a recent case in Florida illustrates the importance of following the requirements of these provisions to protect your rights. In Leder v. Imburgia Constr. Servs., 325 So. 3d 256 (Fla. [...]

22 Mar, 2021

Vacating Crop Insurance Arbitration Ruling: Is it 3 Months or 1 Year?

2021-04-06T14:02:59-05:00March 22nd, 2021|Arbitration, Crop Insurance, Midwest Agricultural Law|

Which is it? Admittedly I keep going back to the well.  Maybe it is because the rules and procedure for arbitrating a crop insurance claim are too complicated.  Or maybe it is a dead horse and I need to get past feeling the Nebraska Supreme Court improperly ruled against my client in an arbitration claim in 2017. In that case, Karo v. NAU, an arbitrator ruled against the [...]

25 Nov, 2020

Enigma Wrapped in a Riddle: Federal Arbitration Act Interplay with Crop Insurance Disputes

2020-11-25T16:28:32-06:00November 25th, 2020|Arbitration, Crop Insurance, Midwest Agricultural Law|

Around this time last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that an arbitrator did not exceed his authority when a dispute over the interpretation of a crop insurance policy provision arose after the arbitration proceedings.  Balvin v. Rain and Haill, LLC. Why is this important? It is important because in 2015, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation ("FCIC") issued Final Agency Determination ("FAD") 230* which stated the following: A [...]

4 Nov, 2020

Arbitration versus Litigation

2020-10-31T11:08:55-05:00November 4th, 2020|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor, Construction Contracts, Nebraska Construction Law|

Construction contracts often contain an arbitration or litigation provision.  While each forum has its advantages, a question often times overlooked is whether an arbitration provision is enforceable. Litigation is the Default Litigation is the default method of dispute resolution.  This is not to say that litigation is the best way to resolve a case.  But unless the contract contains an enforceable arbitration agreement, the parties will have to take their [...]

30 Oct, 2020

Overturning a Crop Insurance Arbitration: The Struggle is Real

2020-11-03T14:49:14-06:00October 30th, 2020|Arbitration, Crop Damage Claims, Crop Insurance, Midwest Agricultural Law|

Ask anybody who has attempted to overturn an arbitrator's award in a crop insurance arbitration; the struggle is real even when the arbitrator is dead wrong. Crop insurance arbitration is held to the standards of the Federal Arbitration Act (the "Act").  The Act strictly prohibits overturning an arbitration award unless "the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual final, and definite award upon the subject [...]

6 Jun, 2019

Bargaining for an Arbitrator’s Decision–Know what you are getting

2019-06-04T13:48:37-05:00June 6th, 2019|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor, Limitation of Liability|

Construction contracts have often included arbitration clauses and they can serve a good purpose of expediting resolution. But, what happens if the arbitrator gets it wrong? Your options are limited, and as one court stated: the parties bargained for an arbitrator’s decision; if the arbitrator got it wrong, then that was part of the bargain A recent case out of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, [...]

9 Nov, 2015

Arbitration Clauses—Where will you be arbitrating?

2018-04-23T23:55:09-05:00November 9th, 2015|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor|

  I had the pleasure of speaking at the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) Education Day earlier this month. During my presentation, “The Myth of the One Year Warranty”, we discussed the impact of arbitration clauses in construction contracts and who should act as arbitrator. While the American Arbitration Association is certainly a popular forum, there are others.  For example, the New York Times recently wrote about a hardwood [...]

16 Oct, 2014

Arbitration—No Opportunity for Appeal

2018-04-23T23:55:12-05:00October 16th, 2014|Arbitration, Construction Contractor Advisor|

Last week I presented to the Great Plains Chapter of the American Society of Professional Estimators on arbitration and litigation. Some of the questions related to the difficulty of appealing an arbitrator’s decision. A Florida appellate court recently confirmed this difficulty. In Village at Dolphin Commerce Center, LLC v. Construction Service Solutions, LLC, a contractor filed an arbitration claim against the owner to get paid for its work. The owner [...]

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