Arbitration and litigation
Arbitration and litigation are among the most effective strategies used in helping conflicting parties reach a peaceful agreement. Conflicts may arise from the business, political and social environment leading to poor relations (Sullivan, 2004). It is thus necessary to understand the dispute resolution measures that one may take when they disagree with another party. The following discussion highlights the primary differences between two common dispute resolution techniques, that is, arbitration and litigation.
Differences between arbitration and litigation
Litigation is the formal process used to determine issues between conflicting parties in the court system. It is the process of taking a legal action against a party that has wronged an individual. Arbitration on the other hand, is the step taken by the conflicting parties with an aim of finding solutions. The process involves the participation of a third party that is not disinterested. One of the primary differences between litigation and arbitration is that litigation is a formal process while arbitration is an informal agreement between the conflicting parties. The other difference is that arbitration is a fairly quick process and less costly, while litigation is a lengthy process and more expensive. The parties in arbitration have the right to select a third party while in litigation the judge is not selected by the conflicting parties (Strong, 2012). The rulings in arbitration cases are final, while the litigation rulings can be appealed in cases where the conflicting parties feel that justice has not been served. The other difference is that arbitration cases use limited evidence while litigation cases allow evidence on court to support the conflict claims. The other difference between arbitration and litigation relates to the type of proceedings involved. While arbitration is mainly concerned with the civil cases, litigation deals with both civil and criminal cases.
Steps taken in order to go to trial
Although arbitration process does not involve the court proceedings in most cases, there are instances when the parties are allowed to appeal and go to court if they are dissatisfied with the arbitrator’s demands. For the case to be taken to trail, each of the parties have to file initial papers for the proceedings to begin (Sullivan, 2004). The plaintiff takes the complaint to the court and delivers a formal copy to the defendant. The other step is the discovery phase where the information about the parties is provided by the third party or the parties themselves. Expert witnesses are interviewed in the process to gather in information gathering. The motions are then developed depending on the facts of the case. Finally, the trail date is set.
Ethics of conflict of interest of repeat players
Repeat players in arbitration have a negative implication on the fairness of employees when they are in dispute with the employers. Due to the volume of resources and experience in arbitration cases, the employers are more likely to be favored by the arbitrators, thus making the process less fair (Ross, 2016). This is unethical because the process is unfair to one party. To overcome this challenge, the employees facing arbitration cases with repeat players should be allowed to appeal the cases without any charges. This ensures that the financial constraints they face do not limit justice. The repeat parties should be charged higher for arbitration cases, to discourage them from getting involved in similar cases with employees in future.
References
Ross, H. (2016, March 28). JUDICIAL, ALTERNATIVE, AND E-DISPUTE RESOLUTION [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSSZprN8wJY
Strong, S. I. (2012). Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation and International Commercial Arbitration. J. Disp. Resol., 1.
Sullivan, F. L. (2004). Accepting Evolution in Workplace Justice: The Need for Congress to Mandate Arbitration. W. New Eng. L. Rev., 26, 281.