American Arbitration Association

When I started with the Arbitration Assn the only help I received was the explanation that the amount of my claim would determine the "track" the claim would be put on. The size of the claim is not enough to determine the best track. The Assn should evaluate the number of exhibits and be sure enough time is given to the procedure to deal with the complexity of the dispute. But for this part of the process, the Assn does not provide the client the direction and guidance for which they are being paid. There is a mediation process, but that was never discussed as an alternative...I still don't know whether that would have been better in my case. My complaint about the AAA is that there are crucial options to consider and they need to have explained. When I asked about options to select from all I was told is "it's all on the website". This is AWFUL assistance. The website is hard to navigate and the process is confusing but worse is that response makes the client "guess the question" they should be asking. Learning too little too late really cost me! I ended up using a single arbitrator when I should have asked for two or three. This system allows too much authority for one person in resolving a conflict. There is a reason for a jury of 12. DON'T let yourself get caught in only having one arbitrator. The Assn should also provide some background on the actual work the arbitrators have done. I did a brief bio on each of the names submitted. I don't know whether the arbitrator I used had actual experience as a judge or if he had spent his work defending contractors vs defending clients against contractors. Everything my arbitrator said during the meeting was ignored when he came to writing the final decision. They also should screen arbitrators for availability and time to commit. We had more than one delay because of the arbitrator not being available. These delays make it harder for him to recall important facts given during the presentation. The Assn also apparently has some training, but from what I could tell, there was no system for the arbitrator except him writing frantically on a yellow pad. He also said he refused to print all the exhibits sent in. The contractor I used had sent 500 exhibits! He buried the arbitrator in the same flood of paperwork he had tried on me. But the arbitrator didn't require any summary of the presentations to help clarify the conflict. The system they employ is not adequate for retaining the salient facts when reviewing the case two or three weeks later...or in my case it was 6 weeks because of delays. If you read my experience on my contractor, you will understand my experience with the Assn in context to my contract situation. When I was at the end of the process and waiting for information, the Assn. sat on it for 11 days instead of responding to my email and phone message inquiries. I paid interest on those 11 days and really wanted to have the information I was entitled to have. Even if they couldn't pass it on to me any faster, they needed to TELL ME where they were in the process. Costly, lack of help in using their system, delays in responding. All good reasons to find another way to settle a dispute if you are unfortunate to be in a binding arbitration.